


Empty Places

by FallLover



Series: Ere it Will Be Less [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Adultery, All Human AU, Angst with a Hopeful Ending, Anxiety, Background HankCon - Freeform, Blackmail, Broadchurch AU, Case Fic, Child Death, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 Friendship, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, F/M, Hank Anderson/Connor - Freeform, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Infidelity, M/M, Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human) - Freeform, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mutual Pining, Original Chloe/Elijah Kamski - Freeform, Pining, RK900's name is nathan, Referenced Alcoholism, Referenced depression, Referenced stillbirth, Trauma, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-10-04 10:15:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20469359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallLover/pseuds/FallLover
Summary: DBH-"Broadchurch" AU. Corporal Nathan Stern transfers to the 'quiet' town of Jericho on his brother's recommendation for a change of scenery after a case gone pretty badly in his home of Detroit. Unfortunately, he's greeted by a murder.





	1. Mystery Magnet

**Author's Note:**

> [Pence](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pence/pseuds/Pence) had the wonderful idea for this AU. Please read their work, they're amazing, they have this amazing Airport AU up on their twitter right now and I adore it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Work title from Robert Frost’s “Desert Places”.

Officer Tina Chen navigated the muddy shore of the lake carefully as Officer Ben Collins cordoned off the area. Wasn’t often they found a dead body in relatively quiet Jericho, after all. Was practically never, really.

“Fucking mud,” Detective Gavin Reed cursed as he walked over, trying to not make a mess of possible evidence.

“It’s another kid,” Tina said, shaking her head. “Hank’s gonna lose it.”

“Fuck, rea—_Phck_. That’s… that’s Anna Chapman. Kara and Luther’s kid.”

“…_Fuck_.”

* * *

Corporal Nathan Stern stepped out of the taxi and tugged his backpack tighter, hoisting up his duffel as the car drove off. The weather was decent. Not too warm, not chilly. Sunny. He stared for a while at his brother’s small home in the quiet suburb of Jericho. It was a nice little house amongst other, similarly made houses. Flowers in the front. Big windows. One story. Not too ostentatious or anything. The yard was well-kept. The sidewalk was clean, save for some chalk drawings of what appeared to be animals. Nathan avoided the drawings carefully to get the door, where he rang the bell.

After a moment, Connor Stern opened the door, blinked, and smiled at him. “Nines. You made it.” Connor was tall – just over six feet – but still slightly shorter than Nathan’s 6’4”. They were both pale and covered with freckles, with flops of curly dark brown hair crowning their heads. Nathan worked out more at the gym, so he was a bit more muscular, while Connor was lither. And at least Nathan thought that Connor’s smile was kinder. Probably why he was so good at being a counselor.

Connor stepped forward and hugged him. Nathan slowly hugged back, a bit tighter than he might have even a few months ago. His last case had been hard, and even though he and Connor had never been too touchy, particularly in recent years, things had changed. And Nathan appreciated the hug.

As they parted, Nathan smiled back, then frowned. He could already see that something was troubling Connor. “What’s wrong?”

Connor sighed. “Come on in first.”

Nathan stepped inside and looked around the house. He’d never visited Connor’s home in Jericho before, for all that Connor had lived there going on six years now. Jericho was a bit out of the way from Detroit, and as far from a big city as Connor could get without losing his mind completely – at least as Connor had said.

The house was warm and tidy. There were pictures of landscapes on the walls, covered in flowers and trees. A bookshelf next to a television. A doorway leading to the kitchen, and another to the hallway for the bedrooms and bathroom. The living room had some couches and a nice coffee table. Connor led the way to the guest room, so Nathan could put his stuff down. The room was nice, too. There was a good quilt on the bed, a lamp on the nightstand.

“So what’s up, Connor?” Nathan asked, putting his duffel on the floor and setting his backpack down on the bed.

Connor leaned against the doorframe. He looked tired. “I heard they found… a dead kid by one of the lakes.”

Nathan blinked. “And you heard about this…?”

“About an hour ago. It’s a relatively small town. People gossip. It was this morning.” He sighed. “I really am happy to see you, and I know you just travelled all the way out here and were planning to take the day off to get acclimated but… you’re going to go into work aren’t you?”

“Do you want me to?” Nathan asked. “It sounds like you want me to.”

“I don’t,” Connor replied. “And it’s certainly a horrible way to get introduced to the place. But… Well.”

Nathan pulled out his phone. He didn’t have any missed calls. He didn’t expect his new captain to call the new corporal up to come into work when he arrived. Nathan hadn’t even let the man know he’d shown up yet.

“I guess you could drive me to the station, then,” Nathan said. “No time like the present for a first impression.”

“You don’t have to,” Connor said. He reached out and lightly touched Nathan’s arm. “This is… really, Nathan, you came here for relaxation.”

“Yeah, but I’ll just go in tomorrow or the next day anyway,” Nathan said with a grimace and a shrug. “Job’s a job. Although you did say this place was more restful than the city. Wasn’t expecting a homicide on day 1.”

“They didn’t say it was murder… And usually it _is_ restful. It’s been… over a year now since the last… last kid was killed.” Connor’s expression was a bit thoughtful with that, and Nathan wondered what that was about. When Connor didn’t elaborate, Nathan shrugged.

“Well that’s good to know at least. Can you drive me to the station, though? I don’t know where it is and I don’t have a car.”

* * *

Nathan thought the Jericho police station was pretty decent. Relatively clean and updated – cleaner than his last station, really, and the lobby was welcoming. At least it didn’t take him hours to get to work, although he wished he could still walk there, like he could in Detroit.

As he strode in he got the distinct sense that things were a bit more... agitated than they might otherwise be. Cops gave him side eyes and the admin assistant asked with a slightly harried expression how he could help.

Nathan was sitting in the lobby when Captain Jeffrey Fowler came out, looking a bit harassed, but he put his hand out. “Corporal. A pleasure. This way, please. We’ll talk in my office.”

Nathan shook the hand - strong grip, older man, wizened, experienced, and he didn’t smile like Perkins did at least, which was a blessing. Nothing hiding behind his smiles, like he knew more than he'd ever let on, but you had to play a made-up game of poker for the knowledge, and only Perkins knew the rules. Nathan followed Fowler through the bullpen. He got a few curious looks, but most people looked at Fowler like he was going to drop a bomb.

When they were safely enclosed in Fowler’s office and the door shut, Fowler sat at his cluttered desk with its empty coffee mug and sighed. “Bit of a day to start your job, Corporal, but it’s never a good day, I guess.”

“I heard... there’s been a death?”

“Where’d you hear that?”

“My brother is Connor, the—"

“Oh yeah, the shrink. Well... yeah. Small town. News travels. I guess.” Fowler sighed. “Look, the problem is, we don’t have a lot of staff who deal with this sort of thing. Traffic violations, litter, graffiti, animal abuse, even suicide, yeah... but murder?” He sighed.

“So it is a murder?”

“My officers on the scene are pretty sure, but... Well. It’s a steep fall to get to where the body was found. At any rate, I’m sort of a detective down right now, so you’re going to get a bit of a crash course on your start.”

“You’re… sort of a detective down?”

“Lieutenant Hank Anderson – he’s my second – his son was killed a little over a year ago. He always said it was murder, not an accident, and didn’t take it well – for obvious reasons – when the case never went anywhere and kept looking like an accident. Now this is the second kid and it’s a similar death and Hank’s back on his murderer theory, only this time it’s a serial killer.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah it’s… Well. Officer Chris Miller is keeping a handle on him. He’s good people. Handles some of our toughest civilians. Hank’s a good cop, really. But I can tell this is taking him back to…" He sighed. "He’s a good cop. If you have issues, let me know.”

“All right.”

“My only other detective unfortunately hasn’t handled a murder before.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. But I hear you’ve covered this sort of thing? I thought it was odd they were sending us a corporal with a homicide detective background but well... needs must, I guess, now.”

Nathan smiled thinly.

“So yeah. I’m partnering you and Gavin on this. Hopefully... He’s at the scene now. Go check it out. See if you can offer some insights.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Take one of my people. They’ll show you where to go. Your badge came through. Was planning to hand it over tomorrow, but well.”

* * *

The scene was grim. A pleasant looking lakeshore on a good day, maybe. Now it was covered in cops. The area was hilly, with a mini cliff leading to that steep slope Fowler mentioned, heading down to the lake.

Nathan’s guide led him to the detective Nathan was to be partnered with. Gavin was an angry looking olive-skinned man in his thirties in a worn leather jacket and jeans, who was watching the scene and writing on a notepad. He looked up at Nathan.

Nathan put his hand out, “Corporal Stern.”

“So you’re the new blood, huh?” Gavin said. He shook the offered hand and snorted. “Come to show us rubes how to tie our shoes?”

“I’m here to offer my help,” Nathan said. He stared Gavin down. He was used to asshole coworkers. Compared to what he left behind in Detroit, this man was nothing.

Gavin stared back at him for a minute, not apparently intimidated by the height difference Nathan had on him, then sniffed and said, “Whatever. Take a look around. Don’t annoy the techs. They’re more important than we are.”

Nathan huffed and walked around.

“Anna Chapman. Found by a runner - North Warren, local reporter - exercising this morning,” Gavin said, staying where he was as Nathan explored. “The victim was already deceased. Maybe someone meant it to look like a fall, but they did a shit job of it. She was obviously strangled to death.” Gavin swallowed.

Nathan looked at him. The man was a bit too pale and there was a haunted look in his eyes. “Is something wrong, Detective?” Nathan asked. “If this is your first body—"

“It’s not!” Gavin said, flushing slightly. “I've handled... It doesn't matter. Her parents are decent. Went to school with em. Heck, they brought the twins to my wedding.” He shook his head. “Fuck. Why’s someone kill a kid?”

“Statistically speaking—"

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I can read. It’s just.” He sighed and went on to describe the rest of the situation. They didn’t have much. Techs had to look at everything. There was no sign of the murder weapon.

Nathan didn’t find anything new. “We need to trace her steps, see where she was last seen.”

“Yeah.”

“Is Warren being questioned?”

“Yeah. Already gone back to the station.”

“What about the parents?”

“They’ve been contacted. Tina should know more about it, though. I wasn’t handling that part.” He flushed and scratched his neck. “I’m not… contacting relatives isn’t my strong suit.”

“Where’s Lieutenant Anderson?” Nathan asked. “I heard he was involved in the case, too.”

“Off hiking through the woods, looking for… who the fuck knows? He already thinks it’s a serial killer.” Gavin scoffed.

“Are you close with Lieutenant Anderson?” Nathan asked.

“Sort of, I guess. Been coworkers for a while. Get drinks together sometimes, or used to. He goes too hard for me these days.”

“He’s got an alcohol problem?”

Gavin snorted. “Yeah. Anyone could see that.”

“What kind of drunk is he?”

“The sleepy kind. Drinks himself into unconsciousness.”

Nathan wanted to ask if the man had an alibi. But he hadn’t even met him yet. He clamped down on his instinct to go after the investigators first in a murder investigation. Besides, he had no real reason to accuse the Lieutenant of anything. He didn’t know who anyone was in the situation, outside of a brief rundown Fowler and the officer who’d driven him here had given him.

“We should talk to the parents. Let the techs do their jobs.”

“…Fine.”

As Gavin headed off to the area with the parked cars, Nathan slowly followed and wondered at how he felt so… calm. Things seem to settle. He felt he should be bothered by the fact that what was clearly a child’s murder should calm him, but… For now things were straightforward. He wanted to worry how he had jumped too quickly to blame a fellow officer. Cops were certainly not above bending or outright breaking the law for various reasons, but… He couldn’t let his judgment be compromised because of his last case. He couldn’t.

_No more fuckups like that_, Nathan considered as he walked after Gavin. _Yeah well, good luck with that._

* * *

Kara and Luther Chapman were in shock. They clung to each other, both crying still, as Ben and Tina talked with them after they had identified the body. Gavin and Nathan stayed back to observe. From what Nathan had seen thus far of the detective, he was surprised Gavin didn’t say something dumb. The silence was… interesting.

They’d actually been out looking for Anna when they got the call. Anna hadn’t been in her bed in the morning, and Kara and Luther had been searching for her, calling neighbors, the school, anyone.

A tall, older man with silver hair walked into the room holding cups of hot tea. He set them down before the couple and didn’t say anything while they sniffed. Kara took a cup and nursed it.

“Thank you, Hank,” she said, quietly.

Luther nodded, his eyes red from crying.

“You need us to call your workplaces?” Hank asked. “Where’s Alice?”

_Their other daughter_, Gavin typed helpfully on his phone when Nathan looked at him questioningly.

“She’s with my sister,” Luther said. “Studying. I… we haven’t told her yet.”

Officer Miller tapped on Nathan’s shoulder and led him away to a tech who had some notes from the scene and a report of Warren's statement.

After the tech handed over the report, Chris led him through the station. “Your desk is here,” Chris said, smiling as he indicated a desk adjacent to one with a plaque that read “Det. Reed”. Both desks had computers, and Gavin’s had a stack of files and a balancing eagle, along with a half-empty coffee mug with it’s contents long since gone cold.

A blonde woman was also leaning against the desk, holding a bulky plastic bag.

“Oh Chloe,” Chris said. “Didn’t realize you’d come in. Gavin’s uh… I’ll go get him.” He paused before he left and said, “Oh, Chloe, this is Corporal Nathan Stern, Gavin’s new partner. He just started today. Sir, this is Chloe Reed, Gavin’s wife.”

Nathan nodded. “Pleasure to meet you.” He’d noticed the wedding band on Gavin’s hand. But still. The petite, clean-kept blonde woman with a level gaze and careful smile was a surprise. She wore a neat dress with a flower pattern, and dainty high heels. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, and she studied Nathan almost as much as he did her.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, as well, Corporal,” Chloe said. Her voice was gentle and quiet. “Do watch out for Gavin. He’s not very careful of himself.”

After a moment where Nathan wondered what he should do, Gavin took care of the problem by showing up. He grinned widely as he saw Chloe. “Chlo! Why’re you—?” He noticed the bag and his smile widened. “Aw babe, you didn’t have to…”

She smiled. Nathan noted there was something… off about the look. Almost… mechanical. But it was a smile at any rate. Maybe she just had trouble smiling? Some people did.

“I wanted to. I heard you’re on a big case and I just wanted to make sure you had lunch.”

“You’re the best Chlo.” Gavin stepped forward and took the bag, then kissed her on the cheek.

Chloe leaned forward and lightly tweaked Gavin’s hair, smiling wider as she did so. “Don’t overwork yourself. You’ve got coworkers to rely on, you know.”

“Yeah Chlo, I know.” He grinned at her.

She smiled wider and grabbed his lapel to pull him down for a kiss. It was neither a short nor chaste kiss, and Nathan looked away to give them some privacy.

He spotted someone new giving him a thoughtful look. The stranger was tall, white, had a bun hairstyle that did nothing for him, and wore glasses. The man frowned when he caught Nathan’s eye, nodded, turned, and walked away down a hall. Nathan frowned. What was that about?

Nathan turned back to Gavin and Chloe, and Chloe stepped back, toying with the edge of Gavin’s coat.

“Come home early,” she said. “I’ve made a good dinner.” She turned and left slowly.

“She is WAY too good for you, Reed,” Tina commented from nearby.

“Ugh, fuck off, Chen,” Gavin said, putting the bag of food on his desk. “Oooh she made jambalaya again!”

“Oh I want some!” Tina said.

"Jeez, Tina, we just came from a murder scene."

"I wasn't the one who said ‘Oooh she made jambalaya', Reed. And I skipped breakfast."

“Tough shit,” Gavin said. “Your jambalaya privileges have been revoked.”

“Pfft.” Tina turned to Nathan and put out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Sir. Officer Tina Chen.”

“Nice to meet you, Officer,” Nathan replied, shaking the offered hand. Tina was nearly a head shorter than Nathan, but with a no-nonsense look on her face that said she wasn’t intimidated, either. He understood why she seemed to get along with Reed. Her grip was firm, too.

“You bring lunch, sir?” Tina asked. “You can always steal from Reed if not.”

“Hey, stop offering my food to other people,” Gavin hissed.

“He’s your new partner, dumbass. Be nice.”

Gavin hmphed and looked back at Nathan, studying him darkly.

“I was going to review the report the techs handed over and Warren's interrogation,” Nathan said. He didn't expect to be welcomed his first day. And he was used to putting off meals in favor of work.

“Yeah… well… we can review it together," Gavin finally said. "Chloe always gives me extra plates anyway. And her cooking is too good to not share.” His face was a bit red with the admission. “But don’t expect this to be a regular thing. Chloe’s a lot nicer than me. I don’t just give handouts, you know.”

“Noted.” Nathan decided that maybe his new coworkers wouldn’t be so terrible after all.


	2. More Questions Than Answers

It turned out that Nathan ended up eating more than Gavin did. He hardly touched his portion as Nathan read out the report between bites. Gavin switched between writing some more notes on his notepad and staring off into the distance.

“You know Warren?” Nathan asked.

“Huh?” Gavin said, blinking at him. “Sure, I guess. We’re not like… close? Local. She was a year below me at school… Took over the local paper from her mom when she came back from college. She runs before work, like she said.”

“That’s an odd detail to know about someone you’re not friends with.”

“Not if you’re friends with Tina. They’ve been dating for about two months. Off and on-ish. Right now it’s ‘on’, I guess. I dunno.”

“Ah.”

“Plus, reporter. Nosy is her job. I try not to talk to reporters. Tina walks a fine line, but well. It’s her life. That’s why Fowler handled her interview. Wanted to be delicate and all that when the press are involved.” He scratched his neck. “Don’t know much else. She’s… fine? Normal. Wouldn’t peg her for murder.”

“You think she’s a reasonable suspect just because she reported the body’s location?”

“No. But… it’s a thought.”

Nathan tried not to sigh. “Did the parents give any more illustrative information?”

“Not that I heard.”

Nathan went over what he’d heard before he left the observation room. “So we know Anna played there before, but she wouldn’t have gone there alone, and she should have been in bed asleep.”

“Got a list of her friends,” Anderson said when he walked up. “Shockingly, it’s a bunch of kids.”

“Lieutenant Anderson,” Nathan said, standing. “We were never properly introduced. I’m Corporal Stern. Pleasure to meet you.”

Up close, Anderson looked annoyed and tired. His clothes were a bit rumpled and slightly muddy from his trek near the murder scene. And he smelled faintly of a blueberry muffin cologne. Anderson shook Nathan’s hand. “Yeah, well. Shit circumstances, huh? Having a nice break?” The last was sharp.

Nathan wanted to comment something about ‘Yes, shockingly employees need to consume food during a break at some point during a full-time workday, biologically, legally, and morally, but who am I to throw stones?’ He didn’t say that, though. Instead, he replied, “Gavin and I were discussing the current report from the techs. Unless you wanted us harassing the one sort-of-witness we had and filling up the room with the victim’s family, when they were already being questioned by you and Collins.”

“Cute,” Anderson said. “I want you to go talk to the sister. See if she knew anything. Kara and Luther will be there.”

“Were the siblings close?” Nathan asked.

“According to her parents they were,” Anderson replied. “She might have heard or seen something.”

“What’ll you be up to?” Gavin asked.

“Trying to see if there are any cameras in the part of town leading off to the lake and near the Chapman house. See what cars went that way last night. Doubt the kid walked or ran that far. Any more dumb questions, _Detective_?”

“No sir,” Gavin replied with a glare as he stood up.

* * *

“I'm surprised Lieutenant Anderson isn’t taking point on this one,” Nathan said as he sat in the passenger seat while Gavin drove them to the Chapman residence.

“He doesn’t want to question a kid,” Gavin said. “Ever since Cole… well. He doesn’t deal with kids.”

“Were you involved in that investigation?”

“No. Was at the Grand Canyon with Eli. I’ve never been, so… Came back and, well… It’s the case that made Collins not want to be a detective anymore, apparently.”

Nathan processed all that. “Who’s ‘Eli’?”

“Oh… Elijah. My brother. You’ll probably meet him. He’s in charge of IT.”

“You don’t get along with Lieutenant Anderson, I take it?”

Gavin laughed. “That’s putting it lightly. I mean we’re fine, I guess. Anderson’s a dick, but so am I. He’s been slacking off a bit since Cole died, is all. Not used to him actually _doing_ things.”

“You knew his son?”

“Before he died… I mean I was familiar with him, I guess? He’d come visit his dad at the station sometimes. Wanted to be a cop when he was older, apparently. Nice kid.”

Nathan considered all that.

“So why’d you come all the way out here?” Gavin asked. “Not necessarily adjacent to Detroit. Or thrilling adventure, all things considered.”

“Do you expect me to slight your hometown, Detective?” Nathan asked.

“No. Just… wondered what you brought you out here. Your focus is homicide, but you got sent out here, where we’ve had one homicide in like… 20 years? Now two, but that was after you transferred.”

“My captain suggested the transfer. And my brother suggested the location. I heard it was… calmer, out here.”

“You piss off the wrong people?”

“Yes.”

“So we got us a troublemaker, huh? Fun shit.”

“Not intentionally,” Nathan replied.

“Well, good to know you’re not a saint, I guess. Call me Gavin, by the way.” He cocked a half-grin in Nathan’s direction.

For some reason, Nathan's cheeks warmed slightly. “…Call me Nathan, then.”

* * *

The Chapman household was another neat and tidy house, if slightly larger than Connor’s, to accommodate two adults and two children.

Alice Chapman sat on the couch in their living room, one of her parents on either side. She wore a shirt with unicorns on it, and held a red stuffed animal shaped like a dragon.

Nathan sat across from her in a comfortable chair, and leaned down to make himself a bit smaller and less intimidating. It was already weird knowing that Alice didn’t yet know her sister’s fate. Her aunt had brought her home and she’d been told that Anna had disappeared. She was clearly worried, and clung to her stuffed animal and her parents.

“And Anna didn’t say anything to you before she left?”

“No,” Alice replied. “She went to sleep and I went to sleep and then she wasn’t there.”

“Did she sometimes sneak out at night?”

“Nope.”

“Never ever?”

Alice giggled. “No!”

“Did she ever say that someone had scared her?”

Alice frowned and considered for a bit. “Don’t think so. Some kids are mean at school, but that was a while ago, and Anna isn’t afraid.”

“She make any new friends recently?”

Alice shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

* * *

Before they left the house, Nathan pulled the Chapman parents aside and asked, “I’m sorry to keep asking you questions, but can you think of any reason Anna would have been to that lake?”

Luther shook his head. “The soccer teams don’t play over there – Anna used to play on one – and it’s not safe for swimming. I think some people fish there, but we don’t, and Anna never had an interest, so…”

When Luther stared off into the distance after he trailed off, Nathan continued, “She didn’t have a cellphone, did she?”

“She’s… she _was_… too young,” Kara said. “So we didn’t get her one.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said. “If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind if we searched her room? See if she left some clue about why she left?”

Kara paled but nodded. She looked at Luther. He looked at them and said, “Sure. If… if it could help…”

“It might. Thank you,” Nathan replied.

Gavin had some spare gloves they used as they looked around the room. It was normal looking for a kid’s room. A comfy, cute bed, some posters of animated characters, an electronic tablet in a green case.

“Wonder if this is connected to the cell network,” Nathan said. “Or if it has email. Although… as long as it’s connected to the network, who knows who she could have been in contact with, and through what?” The screen was locked when he clicked it on, and they put it in an evidence bag. “We’ll have to ask the parents if they can unlock it. Might have parent controls on it.”

There was a notebook for school, which Nathan also bagged to see if it had something valuable. Maybe passed notes or something. Otherwise, they didn’t see anything useful.

“Smart kid to sneak out like that without her parents knowing,” Nathan commented.

“Luther said they’re heavy sleepers. I guess when you have twins you’d have to learn how to sleep through the night.”

“Odd that Alice doesn’t seem to know much about her twin,” Nathan said. “Twins are usually pretty close, unless there’s some reason.”

“That why you’re a cop from Detroit and your twin’s a shrink in Jericho?” Gavin asked.

“I know twins aren’t always besties who copy everything from each other,” Nathan replied. “Still. Even when I was fighting with my brothers, I knew what they were up to.”

“Wait, brothers? As in plural?”

“Yeah. I’m a triplet, not a twin.”

“So what’s the third one do?”

“That _is _the question, isn’t it? I tend to not try to figure out what Cecil is doing most of the time since he hit adulthood. I sleep better that way.”

“The fu—?”

Nathan smacked him lightly on the arm and said, “The walls here are thin. Try to limit your obscenities.”

“Yeah yeah…” Gavin walked out with the tablet so he could talk to Kara and Luther.

* * *

Back at the station, Gavin knocked on the door to Elijah’s office.

“I thought he was your IT guy?” Nathan said, confused on what they were doing. Also confused about why the sign on the door read 'Elijah Kamski' and not 'Elijah Reed', but he filed that question away for later.

“Budget cuts. He does tech forensics, too,” Gavin said. “He’s got an underling who does a lot of the IT stuff when he’s got forensic stuff to deal with, but well…”

Elijah Kamski opened the door. He blinked at them before pushing his glasses back up his nose. “Gavin.” Close up, he was far too pale. Nathan thought he could see some family resemblance, something about the shape of their faces, their lip shape. Elijah didn’t have any facial scars, though.

Nathan wondered where the scar across Gavin’s nose and a good chunk of his cheek came from.

“Hey Eli. I come bearing gifts.” Gavin raised the tablet bag and shook it a little.

Elijah huffed, then looked at Nathan. “This is the new corporal, hmm? Elijah Kamski.” He put his hand out and smiled, but there was edge of… something dark in the look. Like Elijah knew some dirty secret about him.

Nathan knew people probably heard something about how he left his last station. But he didn’t know how or what Elijah had heard, if that’s what it was. Maybe he was just a weirdo who thought he could weird new people out. Nathan took the offered hand. “Corporal Nathan Stern,” Nathan replied. He smiled faintly, and let go as soon as he could.

“I assume this has to do with the case from this morning? The dead girl?”

“Yeah. Tablet’s the kid’s,” Gavin replied. “Wrote down the passcode for you. Can you see if she used any messaging apps or sites to talk with people, and if so, if one of them convinced her to leave her house last night?”

“Sure.”

“You were watching me earlier,” Nathan said as Elijah moved to turn away. “Why?”

Elijah seemed to consider for a bit. “A strange new corporal with homicide experience showing up in our hour of need? It’s a bit odd.” He tilted his head and smiled. “I wonder what happened at your last workplace that this seems like a good transfer.”

That dig. But so what? Sure, Nathan was embarrassed about what happened before. But if this dick was trying to get under his skin… “The people here don’t seem that fond of living here,” Nathan said. “Why don’t you all move away if it’s so miserable?”

“But then we couldn’t be ominous to outsiders,” Elijah said. He looked at Gavin. “I’ll get your tablet looked at, Gavin. Cheers, Corporal Stern.” He shut the door on them.

“That Eli,” Gavin said. “Always a charmer. Ignore him, he’s more of a dick than I am sometimes.”

“Really?” Nathan asked.

“Naw I’m just kidding, he’s nicer. Was dating like eight people when high school ended.”

“…In a row?”

Gavin laughed. “Naw. At the same time.”

Nathan considered what this information was indicative of as Gavin walked off.

* * *

“Hank’s still hunting down cameras,” Tina said when they went back to their desks. She walked over from her desk. “He’s not having fun, apparently. Called in to Fowler and Fowler was yelling, so.” She shrugged.

“Just another Tuesday, then,” Gavin said as he sat in his chair. “So now what, fearless leader?” He looked at Nathan pointedly.

“I was going to review the notebook and see if Anna wrote anything significant.”

“Oh.” Gavin fiddled with his keyboard. “So… you dealt with a lot of homicides, then? In your old station?”

“In a manner of speaking. Fowler said you haven’t.”

“Well… I’ve trained for it. But… no. A few cases that looked like maybe homicide, but turned out to just be suicide or accidental death. A couple car crashes, one that killed two people. That was… early on when I started. Wasn’t even a detective. Most people die naturally, accidentally, or end their own lives around here.”

“So this wasn’t really your first body?”

“No. Not even the first kid. But… still. It’s awful.”

“It is,” Nathan said, paging through the notebook carefully. Mostly just school notes. Equations for math, some class writing. Doodles.

“You uh… got anything you think I should do?” Gavin said, not looking at Nathan. “I’m trying to come up with people to question, but outside that…”

“Until Lieutenant Anderson comes up with camera footage or Elijah finishes with the tablet, I don’t have any ideas, Gavin.”

“Oh.” Gavin swallowed and stood up. “Guess I’ll make some tea, then.” He shuffled off.

Nathan looked up with a frown. He genuinely hadn’t thought of anything else to do. He barely knew anyone in the town to question. The notebook was the most solid lead he had that he had control over.

_It’s not your fault he’s new at this_, he considered. _You’re not supposed to boss him around. He’s working on people to question, that’s… that’s something…_ He didn’t want to rely on others. He knew that was… that was Perkins. His experience with Perkins, coloring how he treated his coworkers..

_Gavin is not Perkins_, he repeated to himself, glaring at a doodle of a cat.

_But he could be. Any of them could be_. He shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

_“If that’s how you think, you should quit now,”_ his last captain had said. _“If you can’t trust your coworkers, you’re in the wrong field.”_ Even when his coworker had been the one person he never should have trusted. None of them should have trusted. And the rest… the rest had still turned on him anyway.

He pursed his lips and went back to his work.

When Gavin sat down again, tea in hand, Nathan asked, “So how long you been on the force?”

“Fuck uh… 14 years, I guess. How about you?”

“15 years.” Nathan smiled. “When did you make detective?”

“About three years ago. Was a beat cop transferring around between stations for a bit, trying to figure out where I wanted to stay. Finally just came back to Jericho and stuck it out.”

“Mm. Sometimes a place just works for you.”

“…Yeah.” Gavin considered him. “You miss Detroit?”

“Hardly been gone long enough,” Nathan replied. He looked down. That was a lie. He’d missed it before he’d even left. It hadn’t felt like home ever since he pointed the finger at the wrong cop.

“Well… maybe the transition won’t be too terrible,” Gavin said. “My first transfer I went home and screamed into my bed everyday I felt so out of place.” He blushed a bit and chuckled. “Not to be like… overdramatic or anything.”

“Seems reasonable to me,” Nathan replied. “I might just do that myself when I go home.”

“Glad to be a shining example to you.”

Nathan chuckled and glanced up to see Gavin grinning at him.

Gavin ducked his head down and said, “So uh… you ever think of taking the sergeant’s exam?”

“A few times. Never acted on it. You?”

Gavin’s expression darkened. “Yeah I… well I took it a few months ago. Didn’t pass. So… I’ve been thinking about taking it again.”

“You should. Plenty of people don’t pass first try.”

“Yeah. Yeah…” The response was a bit breathy, like Gavin didn’t quite believe him, or was just responding to respond without really taking in the advice.

“Why did you want to take the exam?”

Gavin frowned. “Why wouldn’t I? It’s a career advancement. Can’t be a beat cop forever.”

“I didn’t mean it as a criticism.”

Gavin looked at him hard for a second, then sighed. “Yeah… well… Pay’s better. Figure… maybe I could take Chloe somewhere nice for our next anniversary or something.”

“How long have you been married?”

“Little over two years now.”

“How’d you meet?”

“Well school, really. We went to the same high school. We weren't close, but I knew who she was. I came back to work and we hooked up at a bar during a work happy hour and… well. The rest is history.”

“Sounds… nice.”

“Yeah.”

“North’s already got Josh on keeping the public up to date,” Tina said with a sigh as she walked over with her cell. “It’s not overly detailed… Probably more because she’s friends with Kara and Luther… but still. Of course a reporter had to find the vic.”

“Is it really bad?” Nathan asked.

“For North? Oh it’s practically tame. Barebones, really. I’ll let Fowler know in case he doesn’t already.” She nodded to them and walked to Fowler’s office.

Nathan logged into his computer. “Gavin, can you look over the notebook? I guess I should probably be able to use my computer if I want to get work done.”

“Ah, intro computer stuff, huh? Thrilling. Just make sure all your passwords aren't 'password' and read all your emails thoroughly.”

Thankfully getting into his work accounts and email wasn’t too difficult. He found more introductory paperwork awaiting him and sighed as he filled it out.

“Anna’s teachers at the school might be a good start,” Gavin said. “If this was planned ahead of time, maybe they spotted something weird.”

“Or maybe one of them would be a good suspect. Outside Kara, Luther, and Alice, they’d know the most about Anna and her schedule.”

“…Yeah. That too.” Gavin sighed. “Joy.”

Nathan checked the clock. “Is the school still in session?”

Gavin checked. “Naw. They’d be closed now. We could look them up and visit them. Kara’s one of the PE teachers. Chloe teaches history for 2nd grade.”

“Wait, your wife is a potential suspect?”

“Along with a handful of other people, sure,” Gavin replied sarcastically. “But clearly Chloe would murder a kid she’s not even teaching.”

“Gavin, she was in the police station. She could have—”

“What are you...? Look, I’ll tell her not to come in again. Anyway, she left before we had anything she could have spotted.”

“This isn’t a game, Gavin! You can’t just—!”

“She’d never hurt a kid!” Gavin yelled back.

Only then did Nathan realize they were both standing up and glaring at each other, and the bullpen had gone quiet.

“Well now that you two are starting to get your tempers out in the open,” Anderson said as he walked in, glaring daggers at everyone, “You can give me your reports.” He glared at the staring officers, who quickly went back to work.

Gavin forced himself to sit down, and Nathan gave Hank an even, soft-spoken summary of what they’d learned at the Chapman residence, as well as the status of the evidence they collected.

“You go to the school in the morning,” Anderson ordered. “There’s no fucking cameras on the streets. I’ll be here for the tech reports and check on Elijah’s status with the tablet. Now get out and burn off that cocksure steam.” He walked past them to his desk.

Nathan texted Connor to come pick him up and avoided looking at Gavin as he finished his paperwork. Gavin turned back to the notebook, glaring at the pages.


	3. Honey

“So your first day went swimmingly, I take it,” Connor said as Nathan slammed the car door closed.

“Of course,” Nathan replied, glaring at the dash. “I can tell my new partner and I are perfect for each other.”

“Who is it?”

“Gavin Reed.”

“Ah. Well. Yeah I’ve got nothing for that.” Connor steered them out of the parking lot. “He _has_ gotten better in the last few years, though. Chloe’s influence, I think.”

“Hmph.” Although it wasn’t the idea that Gavin was a dick. It was Nathan, dancing on territory he wasn’t comfortable with. Had he overstepped? Throwing accusations where they shouldn’t go? But one of the victim’s schoolteachers – even the wrong grade – made sense, particularly with no other standout suspects.

“Afraid I can’t help you much beyond that,” Connor continued. “Gavin’s been seeing me for anger management for a long time at the community center. So… confidentiality issues. You can make it work, though, Nathan. People like you.”

“I’ve got a whole station and a half who think otherwise.”

Connor snorted. “Seriously, though. How are you feeling?”

Nathan sighed. “It’s a bad case to start off with, but well… It’s something. It’s… focusing. Even if I am questioning my judgment already.”

“Your judgment has always been pretty solid.”

“…Not when it mattered.”

“It was when it mattered to _me_.”

They were quiet for a while.

“Well… maybe day 2 will be better,” Connor offered.

“Hah.” As Nathan breathed in, he caught an odd whiff of… blueberry muffins? He glanced at his brother, who was focused on the road.

Connor smiled at him at the next light.

“You wouldn’t happen to be close with Lieutenant Anderson, would you?” Nathan asked.

Connor stiffened. Then laughed. “It’s that cologne, isn’t it? He knows I like it, so he wears it all the time. Silly man.”

Nathan blinked. “You’re seeing each other?”

“Don’t act so suspicious. It’s not like it’s a secret. We’ve been dating for… five months now.”

“You never said anything.”

“You’ve been busy, Nines. And Hank… is still in a delicate place. After Cole died and his divorce… it’s rough. I didn’t want to bring my own family drama into it.”

“You think I wouldn’t approve? That I’d… what, intervene? Cause drama?”

_You’re making more of this than it is, kid_, a greasy smile had said to him. _Don’t walk down this path._

“I don’t know what you’d think,” Connor said, pulling him back to the present. “But I do know you haven’t approved of most of my choices for most of my adult life, and I wanted to keep this one to myself for a bit.”

Nathan studied him. Connor had a resigned expression on his face, but otherwise seemed unfazed.

“…He was the one who told you about the death this morning, wasn’t he?”

Connor sighed. “Yes. Well… no. He… I was over at his place last night. We were going to have a morning in, but he got the call to come in. So he told me a little. Not much. He went to work, I went home.”

“Why did you feel like you had to lie?”

“I don’t know, Nathan. Maybe I’m so used to it around you that it just became second nature. I haven’t lied about anything else, much as you might not trust my word on that.”

* * *

Nathan lay back on his bed later, catching up on some reading he’d been putting off while he was in Detroit. He just hadn’t found the time for novels. Now… it was an escape from the background anxiety surrounding his questions on his judgment.

The front doorbell rang. Nathan put his phone down and frowned. It was after 9 PM. He got up and walked to the front door, although Connor beat him to it.

Connor opened the door and smiled. “Tina. What brings you over this way at this hour?”

“Definitely not the best cook in the area.” She moved forward to hug him, and Connor hugged back.

“Don’t let Gavin hear that,” Connor said. “You know he says Chloe’s the best.”

“Well what he doesn’t know can’t hurt him. Much.” She looked at Nathan and smiled. “Actually, Corporal, may I speak with you in private for a bit?”

Nathan frowned. Connor might have said that people liked him, but evening visits by a new coworker wasn’t something he was just going to smile away. “Sure.”

They went out to sit in Tina’s car.

“Look, I know this is really weird—” Tina began.

“How’d you know I was staying with Connor?” Nathan asked.

“I knew you were brothers, and North… North knows everything, so I just asked. I needed to talk with you. It’s about Gavin… and Chloe.”

“What about them?”

“The reason he reacted like that earlier… Back when they first hooked up, Chloe got pregnant.”

Nathan blinked.

“They got married shortly after. Chloe’s family is pretty religious. But then she lost the baby. It was rough for both of them, but well… Chloe wouldn’t hurt kids, okay?”

“While I think it is pertinent to Chloe’s potential as a suspect, are you sure you should be telling me this, and not Gavin?”

“People know. Small town.”

“I’m hearing that a lot.”

“Well you’re hearing it again. You don’t know. So I’m telling you now.”

Nathan crossed his arms and tapped his finger on his bicep. “If you think this doesn’t make her a suspect—”

“I’m not saying that. I’m just saying… maybe when you talk to Gavin, take that into consideration? He’s really protective of her.”

“If his judgment on a potential suspect can’t be trusted, he should be removed from the case.”

“…Sure, whatever. You do you, Robocop. I said my piece.”

Before Nathan got out of the car at the clear dismissal, he sighed and said, “Thank you for telling me, Officer Chen.”

She frowned at him, then rolled her eyes. “It’s Tina.”

“…Nathan.”

“Nice to meet you, Nathan.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Tina.”

* * *

“So what was that about?” Connor asked as Nathan came back in.

“Murder and corruption,” Nathan deadpanned.

Connor rolled his eyes. “Well now that you’re out of your bedroom, let’s play some Smash.”

“You think you can still interrogate me through video games?”

“Oh yes.”

“You’re on.”

* * *

Nathan was surprised in the morning when he and Connor walked outside and Gavin’s car was parked on the curb. Gavin was sitting in the driver seat and perked up when he noticed them. Gavin waved at Nathan, who looked at Connor.

Connor shrugged.

Nathan walked over to Gavin’s car and got in the passenger side when Gavin unlocked it. He strapped in.

“Figure we’ll just head straight to the school,” Gavin said. He wasn’t looking at Nathan. Their relatively easy camaraderie of the previous day was gone.

“So about yesterday...” Nathan finally started.

“I shouldn’t have... I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that,” Gavin said, watching the road. “Sorry.”

Nathan blinked. He watched Gavin’s expression. Gavin was flushed and glaring as he drove, but thankfully he was a careful driver. Nathan continued to be amazed at how much traffic a “small town” could get.

Nathan looked away. “Well I mean I _was _accusing your wife of being a suspect in a murder investigation.” And hadn’t changed his mind about it. They had no solid leads. Chloe was just as likely as anyone else at this point. More so because she was a teacher at the victim’s school.

“You were doing your job and I wasn’t doing mine,” Gavin said. “And you called me out on it. I... yeah.” He coughed. “You may have noticed I’m not good at this apology shit.”

“I’m not either,” Nathan said, smiling lightly at him. “I think you’re doing fine.”

“That’s... I mean it’s all Chloe,” Gavin replied. “She’s great at teaching humility.” He sighed. “And Connor. He’s big on conflict resolution. Fucking shrink.”

“Yeah, fuck him for that aspect of his job,” Nathan deadpanned.

Gavin snorted and didn’t reply. They spent the rest of the drive in relatively companionable silence. Gavin even stopped at a coffee shop so they could get drinks.

* * *

Jericho Primary was a nice building. Large. Neat. Clean brick. Flagpole. Colored paper creations in some of the windows. Gavin parked in the visitor’s lot and they got out and walked to the administration office. The morning drop-off rush was in full swing, and some parents and many children eyed them curiously, although thankfully neither of them were in uniform, and their badges weren’t obvious from most angles.

A secretary greeted them with a smile and Gavin pulled out his badge, explaining their reason for being there. The secretary guided them to the principal’s office. They agreed to a time to speak to Anna’s teachers, current and former, with a signed slip that Kara and Luther had given them to look at Anna’s records. North’s article had apparently caught some fire, and the principal asked, “Oh no. Is Anna the child who was…? Oh that’s horrible.” But Nathan and Gavin segued to other topics quickly.

The office didn’t have any reports of strangers on the grounds, watching or harassing or talking to the kids. The school security guard, Traci, was a pleasant woman with tied-back brown hair, who usually led the drug and traffic safety lectures more than she dealt with actual crimes or questionable incidents. 

“A lot of it is down to parent reporting,” Traci said with an eye roll. “And they’re usually reporting the wrong things. I had one parent pull me aside to get annoyed that their kid was taking home some library book they disagreed with. Like what do you want me to do? Arrest your child for reading? Talk to the librarian.”

The art teacher, who taught all the grades, was in and free, so the principal called him in.

Markus Manfred was a tall man in comfortable clothes. He smiled as he walked in the office and nodded at the principal.

“Mr. Manfred teaches all the art courses,” the principal said.

“Do you mind me if we ask you some questions Mr. Manfred?” Nathan asked.

“Depends on the question, officer,” Manfred said after Gavin and Nathan showed their badges. 

The principal showed them into an unused conference room and left them alone.

“Can you tell us your schedule two days ago Mr. Manfred?” Nathan asked.

“Why?”

“We’re investigating a case,” Gavin replied.

“I gathered,” Manfred replied drily. He frowned. “This is about the kid who was murdered, isn’t it?” Gavin and Nathan simply stared at him. Manfred rolled his eyes. “Fine. I got to work around 7 AM to get the pottery lesson for the day ready. Taught three classes. 1st, 2nd, and 4th grade. Spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for the painting lesson today. Went home around 2:50 pm.”

“And then what did you do then?”

“Went to the bathroom. Googled some ideas for weaving projects I’m planning. Prepared dinner. Ate dinner. Took a shower. Went to bed.”

“And you didn’t leave your house during the night?”

“No. I slept until 6:40 AM, when I got up yesterday morning.”

“Do you live alone?”

“No. I live with my father.”

“So he knows your whereabouts roughly during the day?”

“Yes. Why, am I the murder suspect?”

“If you are, we’ll let you know, Mr. Manfred,” Nathan replied. “Are you familiar with the Chapman family?”

“The name sounds familiar... but if their kids go here, I teach a lot of kids, I honestly don’t always remember their last names.”

“Alice and Anna Chapman,” Gavin said. “Twins.”

“Don’t get a ton of those...” Manfred frowned. “Blonde? Or the brunettes? We had at least three sets of twins this past year, all girls...”

Gavin pulled a picture out of his file and showed Manfred.

The teacher took the picture and examined it. Nothing but thoughtfulness showed up on his face. “I recognize her from classes I suppose, but nothing stands out.”

“Well thank you for your time Mr. Manfred,” Nathan said.

Anna and Alice’s homeroom teacher was on a break during the morning assembly. She came in and had even less to say, although she did offer, “You should ask the music teacher, Simon Voce. I know he was tutoring them at some point for piano.”

They had to wait until the music teacher was free, but when he was they went to his classroom. Instruments lined the walls, and a big print out of the song of the month sat between the two big windows on one side. There was an old piano and a big whiteboard with musical notes on it.

Voce was on his computer when they came in, but he stood up and shook their hands. “Officers. Can I help you?”

“We’d like to ask you some questions,” Gavin said.

“Sure! Happy to help.”

“Can you tell us your schedule two days ago?”

The normal stuff. He taught sixth grade and 1st grade. Didn’t see the 5th. “Then I left around... 4:20? Markus—Mr. Manfred drove me home.”

“Wait, Mr. Manfred drove you home?” Nathan asked.

“Yes.” Mr. Voce’s cheeks pinked.

“Why did he drive you home?” Nathan asked.

“He was being nice,” Voce replied, not looking at them now.

“Mr. Voce,” Gavin said, leaning in, “we’re investigating a murder and your statements don’t add up. Mr. Manfred states that he went home around 2:40. Now you’re saying you went home around 4:20. Which is it?”

Voce blushed even harder. “He—I—" he swallowed. “Markus didn’t do anything! He was with me in the art room in his office from around 2:40 until we left.”

“What were you... discussing?” Gavin asked.

Voce swallowed and looked down. “He... we... may have been... Fuck we were making out okay?”

Gavin rolled his eyes and Nathan sighed. “For over an hour?”

“We were still at school it’s not like we could do much...” Simon replied, not looking at them. “Mostly he was flirting while I did some work in his office I had to finish up. Then things got heated and... we left when it was too much for the premises.”

“And he dropped you off?” Nathan continued.

“No, I went home with him.” Voce’s face was very red now.

“With his father home?” Nathan asked with a raised brow.

“He’s dead to the world from around 1 PM to 9 PM,” Simon said. “Medication and age. He didn’t leave his couch the entire time I was there.”

“Why not go to your place?” Gavin asked.

“...Markus’ bed is nicer.”

Nathan sighed. “All right. Do you tutor Alice and Anna Chapman for piano?”

Simon blinked at the odd turn of topic. “Umm... I used to, but neither of them liked it so I stopped several months ago.”

“Where were the lessons?” Nathan asked. He didn’t recall seeing a piano at the Chapman household.

“My apartment. I have a piano my parents gave me. One of the Chapman parents always supervised.”

“So you have a piano but not a nice bed?” Gavin asked. 

Simon colored again. “Honestly it’s not even that great of a piano. The school one is better but the building closes, so...”

“Anyone besides their parents ever supervise?” Nathan asked.

“No.” Simon frowned. “Why would someone else...?”

“Just answer the question, Mr. Voce,” Nathan asked.

“Well the answer is still no.”

“Did anyone besides their parents pick them up or drive them home?”

“Not that I’m aware.”

* * *

“Mr. Manfred, is there a reason you lied earlier?” Nathan asked when they stopped by his room between classes. Manfred was putting some metal triangles back in order.

He frowned at them when they stepped in.

“I... Simon blabbed didn’t be? Look, that’s private, we—" he sighed. “One of Simon’s exes is a teacher here. We don’t want it to get around... but it’s going to, I guess.”

“We’re investigating a murder, Mr. Manfred. It’s not a good idea to lie about that kind of thing.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. So now you know a coworker and I were seeing each other. My alibi out the window now?”

“No,” Nathan said. “Thank you, Mr. Manfred.”

* * *

They talked to some of the other free teachers, but no one had seen anything odd, even assuming they’d taught Anna and Alice at some point.

By the time they got to Chloe, her class was out for recess, and she was tidying up her classroom. She smiled when she noticed them walk in.

“Hey babe,” Gavin said, walked forward. He stopped short of kissing or touching her, though, which Nathan found a bit odd. Chloe reached out and gave him a peck on the cheek, brushing his hair back.

She looked at Nathan and nodded, keeping her smile. “Corporal Stern, a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the visit?”

“Sorry Chlo, But we... well...” Gavin scratched his head nervously.

“I’d like to ask you some questions, Mrs. Reed,” Nathan asked.

“Of course,” Chloe said with a smile.

“Gavin, would you please go outside the classroom and shut the door?” Nathan asked, looking at him.

Gavin sighed and said, looking at Chloe, “I’ll be right outside, babe.”

She smiled at him and he stepped out.

She turned her attention to Nathan. That odd... slightly mechanical look returned. Maybe a forced smile or something. “Now what can I help you with, Officer?”

“Can you tell me your schedule two days ago?”

Chloe raised an eyebrow. Most of the teachers had. She took a moment to think. “Let’s see... I got up at 6:30 am, drank the tea Gavin put out for me, made my lunch, said goodbye to Gavin, and headed to work. I prepared for class. We were doing fractions that morning. Then lunch. We had an afternoon assembly for the 1st grade to do a singing performance. Then we did some spelling practice. I cleaned up after the students left and went home at 3:50 pm. I prepared dinner, reviewed some worksheets. Gavin came home late from work and we ate together, then we took showers and went to bed around 10:30 pm.”

“Do you usually go to bed that late?”

“Yes.” She glanced at the door, then back to Nathan. “Gavin... has trouble sleeping if I’m not there. So I usually wait up.”

Nathan considered things for a bit. “What kind of trouble?”

“...Nightmares. But if you want more information on what, you should ask him. I’ve been more open about our private affairs than I’m comfortable with.”

“I see. Thank you. Do you usually get up at 6:30?”

Chloe smiled. “Every school day. Unless Gavin has to push me out of the bed to get up and ready. It’s not my fault he bought us nice, comfortable sheets and I want to keep sleeping.” She chuckled. “Okay well maybe he did buy them for me, but still.”

That got the image of Chloe and Gavin in bed together and that was a place Nathan did _not_ want to go. 

“Do you know Anna and Alice Chapman?” He asked instead.

“Those are Kara’s daughters, right? I taught them when they were in second grade. My, it’s been a while. I see them every now and then when I’m in the teacher’s lot and they’re coming or going.”

“Are you close?”

“Not particularly, although I like to think I was friends with all my students. In a way that made them comfortable being taught, at least. I don’t think I’ve done more than wave to them maybe since they moved on to the next grade, though. Kara is my colleague, but we’re not close friends or anything, so I don’t have a reason to see them more than in passing.”

“Have you noticed anyone odd watching or talking to the twins?”

“Anyone odd? No... not that I can recall.”

“I see. Well thank you for your time Mrs. Reed.”

“Please, call me Chloe. If you and Gavin are going to be working together, it’s odd that we’re not on a first name basis.”

“Chloe then. You… can call me Nathan.”

She smiled one of those odd mechanical smiles and shook his hand again.

Nathan let Gavin back in and Chloe gave him a warm kiss - not as big as the one at the station, but still. 

Gavin smiled at Chloe like she hung the stars in the sky. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Everything’s fine,” Chloe replied. “Your partner is very polite.

Gavin glanced at Nathan with an unreadable expression, and Chloe patted Gavin’s cheek.

“I have to go get my students if you’re done here. I’ll see you at home.”

“Oh yeah, sure. Sorry.”

Chloe gave him another peck on the cheek and walked around him out the door.

Nathan followed Gavin out into the hall. They spent the rest of the day talking with other teachers, the school nurse, the librarians, and even the janitorial staff and lunch servers. But they got nothing. The vice principal promised to contact the station if they heard anything.

Gavin called Anderson to update him on the situation.

“Techs found some fibers from whatever was used to strangle her,” Anderson said. “And your brother hasn’t turned up anything concrete on the tablet.” Hank sighed. “Go back and canvas the neighborhood. See if someone saw something.”

One of the Chapman neighbors was still gone on vacation, and had been gone for four days. The other neighbors hadn’t heard or seen anything. Gavin and Nathan spent a good long while ringing bells and knocking on doors, asking if anyone had seen anything two nights previous.

They hit something when an older woman down the street who had trouble sleeping said, “Yeah. Around 10 PM, or so, little kid running on the sidewalk. Would’ve called after em, but I knocked my clock off its stand when I got up, and when I looked up next, they were gone.”

“Can you remember what the kid looked like?” Gavin asked.

“Naw. Was just a kid running. Streetlights suck at showing detail.” She frowned. “I think they were wearing shorts and sneakers?”

Nathan shared a look with Gavin. That did match Anna’s appearance, but it could have been any kid out late.

“Which direction did they run?” Gavin asked.

She pointed them away from the Chapman house.

Gavin and Nathan asked at the next few houses, but no one else had anything to offer, and they eventually hit the highway and the end of the houses.

“Whoever it was,” Nathan said, “Could have lured Anna out, parked here, picked her up, and then driven to the lake.” The concrete was not telling on what kind of car was driven. There weren’t any dirt roads around here.

“Someone she knew, then,” Gavin said. “Or at least had some relation with.”

“Has anyone spoken to the aunt?” Nathan asked. Anna and Alice's aunt. Luther's sister, Rose.

“Maybe, but I’m not sure how much. That our next step?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

* * *

Rose Chapman was a pleasant, but clearly strained woman. She’d been fielding all the phone calls while Kara and Luther were dealing with everything else, trying to lighten their load. She still looked pale. She quickly gave her alibi – she’d been asleep at her girlfriend’s. Gavin marked down to contact the girlfriend. Rose’s house was a neighborhood over, so she was always close by if her brother’s family needed anything.

“Anna is… _was_… a nice girl,” Rose said, keeping one eye on the kitchen, where Luther and Kara were talking while Gavin and Nathan questioned Rose in the living room of the Chapman residence. “Bright. Friendly. She liked cartoons, lacrosse, mac and cheese…”

“Did she talk to you about being approached by anyone?”

“No. Never.”

“What about new friends she was particularly partial to?”

“She’d talk about school friends every now and then, but no one new that I can recall.”

“Do you know who her closest friends were? Or anyone she talked to more than others?”

“Um… there was a… a Sasha? A Jordan, maybe? And a D… D something?”

“Debra? Donna? Doreen?” Gavin offered.

“I’m not sure… I can’t recall. Something that started with a D. I remember it was an odd name. I assumed they were school friends.” She didn’t have any other information.

They reported in to Anderson again from the car.

“Fuck,” the lieutenant replied. “I guess the next step is that we have to talk to the kids.” He sighed. “I want you working on this in the morning. Calling in the parents to make sure it’s all right.”

After they hung up, Gavin asked, “So you wanna get some grub?”

“Don’t you and Chloe eat together?”

“She’s got a dinner date with a friend.”

“Ah. Well… by all means, then.”

Gavin drove them to Jimmy’s Sports Bar, a nice-looking restaurant with a decent amount of patrons this time of night.

Gavin grabbed them a booth and a waitress took their drink orders while they looked at the menu. Gavin eventually ordered some cheese fries. Nathan ordered a cheeseburger. Their drinks came in: Gavin got a soda, and Nathan got an iced tea.

Gavin swirled his soda with his straw thoughtfully. “I was almost a dad once, you know.”

“Really?” Nathan asked. He wasn’t sure how to handle Tina’s information, or relating it to Gavin. So he played dumb.

“Yeah. Chloe… back before we got married. She got pregnant. And well… Anyway. She would get terrified she’d lose the baby. She was always reading on ways to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy or whatever. We got the best foods for a healthy pregnancy diet. Did weird exercise shit to help with anything... played music to her belly, I’d run out to the grocery store in the middle of the night, come home early from work to help with whatever... but she’d still get scared. Called up weird companies for things when I had the time. Burn this incense, sleep with these pillows, wear these colors… When she lost it she... she was devastated.” He sighed. “And she hated me. Said it was all my fault. If I’d just said no when she didn’t want to use a condom, if I didn’t have a dick or if...” he sighed. “It got bad. I said I’d go if it would make her feel better. If it would help. I’d go to the other end of the earth if it would help. Eli came in. I don’t know what he did, but he calmed her down. Got me to take a vacation from work and... and everything. Took us on a vacation somewhere calm. Whenever we got into a fight he was there. To calm shit down. Whenever I talked about leaving, he was there to tell me I’d hate myself worse. Whenever... well. He was there.”

“I’m surprised. You said he was a dick.”

“Yeah most of the time. And to his exes. He’s a fucking dick to his exes. But then... he was there. When he had to be. Chloe’s so much calmer and happier. She’s still hurting, but... we’re moving on with our lives. She loves kids, though. Always making plans, looking up research on how to be a better teacher, making time to attend events. It’s the world to her.”

Nathan considered his tea, then looked up at Gavin, who had his arms crossed and gazed thoughtfully at his soda. “Do you still want to be a dad?”

Gavin huffed. “I never wanted to be a dad. But Chloe said she was in the right time of her cycle and she really didn’t want to use a condom and maybe I was drunker than I thought and hadn’t gotten laid in a while... but when she said she was pregnant and wanted to keep the baby I knew I was going to support her. Marriage was her idea, and well... it worked.”

“I think you’d be a good dad,” Nathan said.

“Based on what? My amazing detective skills or my expert crisis management skills?” He said it with a self-deprecating smile and Nathan wondered at the frequency of Gavin’s self-deprecation.

Nathan awkwardly laughed it off. “There’s more to parenting than solving mysteries and managing crises.”

“Well... maybe. Someday. I dunno. If Chloe wants to.”

“So why do you and Elijah have different last names?” Nathan asked, very pointedly changing the subject to solve a question he’d been considering for a while.

“Oh. Elijah’s dad passed when he was around two and our mom remarried, and then she had me.”

“Elijah didn’t just take the Reed name then?”

“Naw. He considered it when he was a bit older, mostly to match Mom and I, but…” Gavin sighed. “He didn’t get along with my dad, so… he stuck with his name.”

“You still close with your parents?”

“Not really,” Gavin replied. “Mom passed a few years ago – cancer. Dad remarried and… he didn’t agree with me becoming a cop, plus I don’t get along with his wife, so we don’t really talk.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Gavin shrugged. “What about you?”

“I’m pretty close with my mother. My father passed when I was around 10. But Mother… I need to call her soon. I let her know I arrived, but things have gotten away from me.”

Gavin smiled. “And you’re close with your brothers?”

“Cecil, after a fashion. He’s a hard one to pin down. But we text every now and then. Connor… we’re closer than we used to be.”

“Oh? Didn’t get along?”

“Once… But it’s private.”

“Ah.”

Their food arrived.

“It’s not that I don’t want to share,” Nathan said, pouring out some ketchup next to his fries and placing his bun. “I like getting to know you better and certainly this is fair game after what you said earlier. But… it’s Connor’s story to tell, not mine.”

“Oh I get it. Naw it’s cool.” Gavin smiled and Nathan felt something tighten in his chest.

_He has a nice grin._

“I like getting to know you, too,” Gavin said, looking down at his fries as he said so. His cheeks were slightly pink. Or maybe it was just the lighting.

Nathan bit into his cheeseburger. Wasn’t bad.

“So, seeing anyone?” Gavin asked.

Nathan half-choked and Gavin waited for him to clear his throat. “Uh… what?”

“You single?” Gavin said, smiling.

“Uh… yes, I am single.” He snorted at how silly that sounded. “Haven’t been with anyone in a while.” He’d buried himself in his work. It’s what made Perkins’ betrayal so hard. He hadn’t had any solid relationships to fall back on after that one collapsed outside his mother or brothers, and even those were more distant than they’d been. That Connor had answered the phone when Nathan reached out was a godsend. “My last boyfriend… he didn’t like how buried in the work I was. Said I never made time for him.”

“Yeah, I was like that before Chloe.”

“She really changed your life huh?”

“Yeah. She’s... amazing.” Gavin sighed. “Truth is I was pretty... not happy with life in general. But Chloe... she always wanted to go places. Hiking, water surfing, traveling, movies... We got a second cat, went to cat shows for fuck’s sake... Painted pottery. We go to farmer’s markets. We’ve gone berry picking. After... we lost the baby and Eli made us figure our shit out... She dove back into life and well... She’s just everything.”

“Why weren’t you happy before?” Nathan asked.

Gavin laughed, but his expression darkened. “Oh... anger management problems. Depression. Pretty isolated. Back when I was moving around stations, due to the travel, I didn’t end up really making friends or long-term relationships. Then I came back and well... even here I felt like an outcast. Eli was living the high life and invited me along to stuff but, well... I felt like a drag. Sitting in a corner with a beer, trying to figure out something to say to relate to _anyone. _Don’t know why Chloe noticed me that day, but damn, I’m lucky.”

“I’m glad you’re happy together.”

“Thanks. Hope you find somebody too, if you’re still looking.”

“Thank you.”

Nathan picked up his phone when he heard the text tone.

_Connor: “Staying with Hank tonight. You okay?”_

_“Yeah,” _Nathan typed back._ “Have fun.”_

_Connor: “<3”_

“Could you drop me back off at my place after this?” Nathan asked. “Looks like my ride is busy.”

“Sure. Long hours at the community center?”

“No,” Nathan replied. “Personal matters.”

“Huh.” When Nathan wasn’t more forthcoming, Gavin asked, “So why don’t you have a car? I know people in Detroit drive.”

“I was close enough I could walk to work,” Nathan replied. “But I actually have a motorcycle. It’s just in the shop. Needed to go in for repairs just as I was leaving. They're supposed to ship it to me.”

“Really? _Nice._ I always wanted a bike. Never got around to it.”

“Well… maybe I’ll let you ride it sometime.”

“Awesome!” That grin again.

Nathan hid his flush behind another bite of burger.

* * *

Nathan woke up around 3 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. He only had the one case, and they had no clear leads, except for maybe Anna had been running away from the house late at night. He got on his work computer and started looking up press clippings, seeing if he could learn more about Cole Anderson. His clearance had come through, and he could access the archives at work. He didn’t want that investigation to pollute his impression of this one, but his current one was being led by the grieving father, so, some background felt warranted.

There was precious little. Final diagnosis: fell from a cliff. Broke his neck during the fall, found near a lake. The age was wrong, though. He was around two years older than Anna Chapman when he died.

Connor came back around 5 AM, when Nathan was reviewing the casenotes he’d gathered for the third time.

“Hey,” Connor said when he stopped by Nathan’s room after noticing the light was on. “How you doing?”

Nathan noticed that Connor’s clothes looked fresh. He’d taken a change with him. But Nathan still smiled and tapped his neck. Connor frowned and glanced at the spot on his neck in the mirror over the dresser. He clapped a hand over the half-visible hickey.

“Okay so maybe we got... frisky,” Connor replied with a smile.

Nathan laughed, then sighed and said, “I think I have a crush already.”

“What? On who?”

“...My partner.”

“...Aw Nathan.” Connor came over to sit on the bed with him.

“Yeah.”

“I’m surprised you took to him so easily. Not because he’s, well, Gavin, but because... I mean it’s only been two days.”

“It never took me long,” Nathan said. “I mean Anthony I think I saw for 10 minutes. Then Ben... I mean that was a day, at best, even if it took two months to confess.”

Connor laughed. “Don’t feel too bad. Hank I liked from day 1. I just assumed it would never go anywhere. He _was_ happily married after all, sort of. Married anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s actually more similarities between Hank and Gavin than not. They both had sort of shotgun weddings. Hank, though, was miserable pretty fast. He and Helen were not suited for each other. But they stayed together for Cole. They were going to separate when he went off to college. Once Cole died and Hank… went to a bad place, they divorced. Helen moved away, too. Too many bad memories.”

“Yeesh.”

“Yeah.” Connor leaned back on the bed. “It’s actually part of why he doesn’t get along with Gavin. They used to be sort of okay, but I guess tempers flared and maybe Gavin got drunk or something, and to dig back he said, ‘At least my wife loves me,’ and well… Yeah.” Connor rolled his eyes. “Way to destroy a relationship.”

“What a weird thing to hold over someone.” _And he talks about Chloe a _lot. Admittedly they had just interviewed her as a potential murder suspect. Gavin had talked about other things during the times they’d been working together. When they hadn’t been interviewing Chloe, Gavin had been purely professional, taking notes, entering the pseudo-interrogations with questions as needed. Despite their odd conversation at dinner, they’d gotten to talking about pets – Gavin’s cats, Nathan’s desire for some animal companion in the near future – and motorcycles.

“Gavin is a very insecure person. He’s better than he was, but… And I’m not going to start talking about what we talk about in meetings, that’s confidential. I knew him before he started coming to see me in a professional capacity. There were some charity events the police worked on at the Center. He’s made progress, and Chloe definitely made a difference, but still. That insecurity is where most problems for him stem.”

“He’s been on the force a while,” Nathan said, “but he’s clearly uncomfortable in his role as a detective. Even if he’s pretty good at it. Sure, he has a soft spot for family, but who doesn’t?”

Connor smiled. “You like him. Really.”

“I said I have a crush.”

“Yes, but there’s a difference between love at first sight and actually liking someone for who they are. And you clearly like him for who he is.”

Nathan fell back on the bed next to him. Connor moved his arms over his chest. “I barely know the man, really, for all that we’ve talked a lot, and about very intimate things.”

“Intimate?”

“Just… Well… actually he’s talked more than I have, honestly.”

“You’re recovering from a traumatic experience. It makes sense that you wouldn’t overshare, when you don’t feel safe enough to.”

“Have you shared with Hank? About… rehab?”

Connor was quiet for a while. Then he said, “Yeah. It helped a lot. Opening up. He used to think I was such a saint. But I’m not. He still sort of does, because apparently he’s such a horrible person, staying in a loveless marriage to try and give his son a whole home based on some weird cultural standard, being a good cop worthy of getting promoted, and making the mistake of living in a world where no matter how much you protect them, kids get hurt. What a horrible person. Anyway. I disabused him of the notion. His new philosophy is that we’re just getting through it, and it’s better together.”

“As long as who you’re together with is a decent person,” Nathan replied. Always, Perkins’ face came back to him. He hoped the man _rotted_ in prison, even if it made his stomach churn to think of it.

“I think he is. I think… at the end of it all, I can be. And I know you are. And Gavin is.”

Nathan looked at him and smiled, rubbing Connor’s arm slightly. “Well, as long as we’re relying on your judgment and not mine.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “Let’s… not go down that road.”

"Hey," Nathan said, rolling over to look at him. "If you can give me advice on my judgment, I'm going to give you advice on yours. You've done a lot of good work, Connor. Really. It shows. Even over the phone I could tell."

Connor sighed and looked at him. He looked... tired, but when a smile eventually lit his face, Nathan knew it was real. "Thank you, Nines."


	4. On the Clock

Nathan and Gavin split the list that Hank had compiled from the earlier interviews with Kara and Luther, with some additions gleaned from Alice by Hank on a return visit. The calls and interviews took all day. Most kids had nothing to offer. They said they liked Anna, and hadn’t heard from her in a while.

Nathan felt more stressed as the hours passed. They were still getting nowhere. Thankfully, no new murders had popped up, so the serial killer idea hadn’t been confirmed.

But still.

He could tell Gavin was stressed, as well. The man was antsy and drank lots of tea. He did breathing exercises before every interview.

Nathan respected his professionalism. Gavin never let his frustration show in front of the kids or parents. At the end of it all, Gavin looked at his notepad.

“So we currently have half a helpful witness to what may or may not have been Anna Chapman running before her murder. Nothing else. No possible motives. Labs came back and the murder weapon pieces are unhelpful. No footprints or tire tracks leading to the scene. Eli’s still working on the tablet, with nothing solid so far. No camera footage. Nothing.”

“Rose Chapman’s alibi checks out,” Nathan added, lowering the phone he’d been using. “She was with her girlfriend.”

“So we’ve got an angel of a kid with a family that loved her, and a supportive community, albeit with a few adults who need better hobbies. Now what?”

Nathan leaned back in his chair. “What makes a kid like Anna Chapman leave her house in the middle of the night without telling her parents? Threats? Blackmail? Secret romance?”

“At age nine?”

Nathan sighed. “It’s just a thought.”

Gavin tapped his notebook. Then he looked up. “What if she got a physical note to leave the house? It doesn’t seem like she met someone at school, but what if she got mail or someone passed a note? If it’s someone she trusted, it wouldn’t have to be a stranger at the school. None of the teachers stood out, but there are other people who work there, and tons of students.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

Fifteen minutes later, Gavin hung up the phone. “Fucking hell. No. She hasn’t gotten any mail since her gramps passed a year ago. Apparently they were penpals. And Alice and the parents don’t know anything about notes. We didn’t find anything on that first search of Anna’s room, but we’d have to go back to double-check.”

“A teacher probably wouldn’t admit to it, either.” Nathan looked at his screen. “Different angle, but what if we checked the local carwashes? We didn’t get any tire tracks, but the perp could have covered them. There’s always the potential they got mud somewhere.”

Gavin pulled up info for the local carwashes on his computer. “The perp could have just hosed it off.”

“But maybe they slipped up.”

There were two local car washes, and the next closest one was about two hours away. The two local car washes had a few customers each come in with muddy tires in the last few days, but they required a warrant to give out that information for privacy reasons. The local judge was out at a family gathering, so Nathan and Gavin had to wait.

“Hey Gavin.”

Nathan looked up to see Elijah walking over. He nodded at Nathan and smiled at Gavin. “Want to get some dinner?”

“Aren’t you working on the tablet?” Gavin asked with a frown.

“I have apparently not gone to get food since yesterday evening, and my eyes need a rest.”

“Shit, Eli,” Gavin said. “I mean I guess… but we’re brainstorming.” He looked at Nathan.

Nathan studied Gavin. The man looked tired and frazzled. For the first time, Nathan wondered just how much sleep Gavin got due to his nightmares, not to mention the stress of the case.

“Maybe a break could give us some ideas. And it’ll make waiting for the warrant go faster.”

“…Yeah. Uh… you coming?” Gavin asked as he stood up and put his jacket on.

Nathan looked at Elijah. Elijah’s smile seemed to shrink for a second, before coming back fully as he said, “Yes, Corporal Stern. Please join us.”

“Uh… sure,” Nathan replied, standing. He wondered if this was all part of Elijah’s “creepy small-towner” shtick. But Gavin seemed to perk up and smile brightly at both of them, and Nathan decided that whatever Elijah was up to didn’t matter. Of course he was bothered by how he might have been interfering with brother time - he could relate - but… they worked together. They saw each other every day.

_Keep telling yourself that_, Nathan thought as he walked with them to the car.

* * *

They went to a nearby diner. The brothers got cheeseburgers and Nathan ordered a shrimp salad roll. Gavin called Chloe to explain.

“She’s painting her nails anyway,” Gavin said once he hung up. “Wants some time to herself.” He smiled as he put his phone away.

“So how do you like the town so far?” Elijah asked, looking at Nathan.

“Well, considering it’s only been three days and I’ve only had time for work, it seems nice. The people by and large seem good, except for the murderer, obviously. And the teachers making out in the primary school.”

“What?” Elijah guffawed.

“Don’t even ask,” Gavin said before biting into his burger.

“Well, well, well.” They all looked up to see North Warren walk up to their table. A man followed behind her holding a laptop. North smiled. “Look who’s here. The two detectives assigned to the local murder mystery.”

“What do you want, North?” Gavin asked after he swallowed and put the burger down.

“Any updates on the case?” North asked, smiling.

“Not for the public,” Nathan replied.

“But I’m a witness,” North said, playfully.

Nathan frowned. "That's... not how things work."

“You got more to add?” Gavin asked, looking at North. “Cause otherwise you’re still a member of the public. And finding the body isn’t exactly a witness to the crime, unless you’re not telling us something.”

North rolled her eyes and gestured the man behind her forward. “Josh, this is Corporal Stern, the new detective.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Corporal,” Josh said, reaching out to offer his hand, which Nathan shook. He hadn’t yet started on his shrimp roll. “I’m Josh Page.”

“Josh is my second-in-command at the paper,” North said. “So you can hate us both just like Gavin does.” She narrowed her eyes slightly in Gavin’s direction.

“I was reading some of your articles the other night,” Nathan said. “They were very good. As long as you don’t interfere with the case, which you haven’t thus far, and don’t harass the grieving family, I don’t see a particular reason to hate you. People should know what’s going on.”

North blinked at him, then looked at Gavin. “Gavin, why is Fowler pairing you with someone sane?”

“Fuck off, North.”

She leaned over to Nathan. “My suggestion is to get out now, Corporal.” She nodded to Elijah and they walked away to a table of their own.

Nathan started on his shrimp roll as Elijah turned the topic to a strange yet oddly compelling video he’d seen about marble racing. As Nathan listened to the brothers banter, he could see they were close. Even when they disagreed or poked fun at each other, there were smiles in their eyes. They nudged shoulders and Elijah stole some of Gavin’s fries, “You have your own, asshat!” Gavin said.

It was nice. And it made Nathan feel even more like an intruder. His phone dinged and Nathan read the notification. “Warrant came in.”

“All right!” Gavin said after he swallowed down the last bite of his burger. “Let’s get it done, then.”

"You both go on,” Elijah said. “I’ll finish and handle the bill.”

“You sure?” Nathan said. “I can—"

“It’s fine. I’m taking too long with the tablet, anyway.”

“We owe you one, Eli,” Gavin said, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Thank you,” Nathan said.

“No problem,” Elijah replied. For a moment, Elijah looked at Gavin and his expression seemed… pained. But he turned back to his food.

Nathan walked after Gavin and said, once they were in the car, “I apologize if I was interfering with your sibling time.”

“What? Naw it’s cool. Eli and I hang out a lot. I got to make sure he ate something, and that’s good.”

“He seemed a bit bothered by my presence earlier.”

“Eli?” Gavin frowned. “That’s probably just him being weird. I’ll… get him a box of gobstoppers later. That always cheers him up.”

* * *

They headed to the first car wash. The owner was closing up for the evening. She stopped and pulled up the database for them. They wrote down the likely names, and headed to the other car wash. With the list in hand, they headed back to the station.

“A lead at last, maybe,” Gavin said. “And it’s too late to do much about it.” He leaned back in his car seat with a sigh.

They sat in silence for a while. Nathan knew he should get home. But still… “I worry…” He began. “I’m worried that I’m impeding the investigation.”

“What do you mean?”

“I… the reason I left Detroit was because I accused the wrong suspect.”

Gavin blinked. “Well… that happens?”

“It was a cop.”

“…Oh.”

“And the actual perp was my partner.”

“What the fuck?”

“My partner, Richard Perkins. He’d hidden his trail rather well, and… well. It took a lot to say that my first suspect was one of us. You don’t just claim your peers are suspects in this business. And then to find out that not only was I wrong, but it was also my partner all along who was the real culprit, and I somehow never noticed it. So… my trust in my judgment has been pretty shot. Reasonably.”

Gavin listened quietly, his expression unreadable.

“If… if I was still… maybe we’d have the killer already.”

“Since you’ve made most, if not all the breakthroughs on this, I disagree,” Gavin said. “You’re focused, thoughtful, and great at relating to people the times you’ve led interviews. This isn’t a one-person operation. We’re all trying, and this person isn’t showing up. For someone brand new to the town, I think you’re doing a great job.” Gavin snorted. “I certainly wasn’t as comfortable when I was in your shoes. Back when I was transferring a lot… well. It wasn’t great. And I trust your judgment. Even if… even if I hate the conclusions sometimes. I trust it.”

Nathan stared at Gavin.

Gavin looked at him and flushed, then looked away and scratched the scar on his nose. “Just… just saying.”

Nathan smiled. “Thank you.”

Gavin huffed.

* * *

Nathan finally checked his email after he took a shower and flopped down on his bed, rubbing his hair dry. His motorcycle garage had sent him an update saying they’d shipped the bike. He’d finally be able to get himself around on his own. Although… he was honest when he said he didn’t mind Gavin driving him around.

He snorted. He really needed to get laid at some point in the near future.

Gavin texted him a picture of his cats sitting on Gavin’s stomach. One cat was all black and fluffy, with golden eyes. The other was a calico, and missing one of its blue eyes, along with half an ear. Nathan could see a familiar olive hand resting on the calico.

A delicate, pale-skinned hand with painted fingernails pet the black cat.

Nathan thought the picture was cute, and tried to ignore the irritation he felt seeing what he assumed was Chloe’s hand.

“He’s happily married,” Nathan said to himself. “Happily. He has told you this. Many times.”

Connor walked in and lay down on the bed by Nathan’s hip. “Ugh. Today.”

“I’m not a homewrecker,” Nathan said to his phone.

Connor blinked and looked at him. “What? …You’re still in love with Gavin?”

“I have… a crush. It’s not love.”

“You’re in _love_. I’m a therapist. I know these things.”

“I hate you, you know.”

“Homewrecker.” Connor giggled.

“So what was rough about today?”

“Had a moment with… well…” He sighed. “A client talked about their Internet poker addiction…” He sighed again. “It was hard to redirect and explain that they needed to see someone else.”

Nathan put his phone down and sat up. “Isn’t your admin supposed to catch those?”

“The client didn’t mention it during intake. They’ve been seeing me for a while, too. Apparently their SO finally found out about it, which prompted the client talking about it.”

“Can the other therapist on staff handle this client?”

“Yeah. I just… It was rough.”

Nathan reached out and rubbed Connor’s shoulder. “How you feeling?”

“Still falling off the anxiety of it.”

“But you didn’t act on anything, right? It’s good.”

Connor grumbled.

“...How about I make us some nachos and we rewatch “Doukyuusei”?

Connor smiled. “That’d be nice.”

* * *

Hours later, Nathan opened his eyes to stare at the digital clock reading ‘2:23 AM’.

He’d had a nice late night in with Connor. But he knew he was grasping at straws for the case.

Connor snuggled into him. Nathan knew his brother wanted to be at Hank’s but… he’d said he was worried about adding another thing onto Hank’s lap, what with the murder case – to which Nathan had adamantly replied, “If he can’t handle this, he’s not worth it,” – and Connor had huffed and they’d moved on to something else.

Nathan had been through more of Connor’s struggles and recovery with Connor, anyway. Connor felt more open about it around him.

Nathan wished he could come up with more solutions to his present situation. He noticed that Gavin had sent him an email with the information on the car wash leads. He’d apparently typed it up after getting home. The ‘sent’ section read ‘1:34 AM’.

_Well at least I’m not the only one not sleeping._

* * *

“So when is your bike showing up?” Gavin asked as Nathan hopped in his car after bidding Connor goodbye.

“It’s on its way,” Nathan said. “The garage said they shipped it yesterday.”

“Cool.”

“Connor can drive me to work if you’d rather not pick me up.”

“I mean our first potential lead is in this direction anyway, so…”

“Not that I mind being chauffeured,” Nathan deadpanned.

“Fucking shit get out of my damn car.”

Nathan fastened his seatbelt and coyly raised an eyebrow at Gavin, a light smile on his face.

Gavin glared back and rolled his eyes as he backed out of the driveway. “You are so fucking funny. You should do stand-up.”

Nathan snorted and pulled up the email Gavin had sent him.

The first suspect was a dead end. The family went on a picnic over the previous weekend, and all their alibis checked out. They also didn’t know who the Chapmans were. They had recently moved into the area, and the kids were in high school.

The second suspect was a photographer who had gone out during the day to get some shots of some birds and flowers. He also didn’t know the Chapmans, and had gone to a happy hour after work, then spent the night at his girlfriend’s place. Nathan called up the friends and girlfriend to doublecheck, and the alibi checked out.

The third suspect had gone fishing with his grandkids the previous weekend – but at a different lake. His husband, who hated fishing – said they’d eaten an early dinner and fallen asleep watching television. The grandfather who’d gone fishing recounted some of the apparently more thrilling portions of the shows, that he’d apparently had to listen to around his husband’s snoring.

Another potential suspect seemed promising, since the parents had no idea their car had been to the wash, let alone how it might have gotten muddy. But then their son – on break from college – admitted that he’d gone for a joyride in the car with his friends in the woods earlier in the week. Long before the murder. Nathan was reasonably sure drugs and/or alcohol had been involved.

A soccer coach for the local middle school and the parents of her students had been driving to a local field, which was next to a dirt parking lot, which had turned muddy after a recent storm.

“Damn it!” Gavin yelled once they were in the car after interviewing the last parent. He banged on his door in anger. “That got us fucking nowhere!”

“It was an idea and now we can move on to something else.”

“To what?” Gavin yelled. “We’ve been running around like chickens with our heads fucking cut off!”

Nathan kept his expression blank and waited for him to run out of steam. But apparently Nathan’s non-reaction made Gavin even angrier.

Gavin opened his mouth and froze, blinked, then turned away. He started mumbling.

Nathan frowned. After a moment of listening, he asked, “Are you… reciting poetry?”

Gavin put a finger up for Nathan to wait. Gavin then recited some more poetry. Eventually his posture lost some of its tension. He finally sighed and said, “Sorry, I… It helps me relax.”

“Oh. It’s fine. Glad you… got that.”

“I’m still angry.”

“Ah.”

“Checked with Eli before I left the station this morning and he hadn’t found anything new.” He pulled out his phone.

“You were at the station before meeting me?”

“Had to pick up the car and check in with Hank. Made sure he was okay with us doing interviews. He waved me off.” Gavin dialed Elijah. He tried twice more and cursed. “Fucker’s not answering,” he said as he put the phone away.

“Maybe he’s found something and we should head back to see it?”

Gavin snorted. “You just keep trying to think positively, huh?”

“Someone has to,” Nathan said. “Usually it’s someone else, but alas, the duty falls to me.”

Gavin eyed him thoughtfully. “You know, for a guy who left his last station with such a crap situation, you’re pretty chill.”

“For a guy who’s rather self-deprecating, you’re quite fun to be around.”

Gavin colored. Nathan followed suit.

“Uh…” Nathan said.

“You… what?” Gavin laughed.

“Well you are,” Nathan said. He reached out and lightly bumped Gavin’s shoulder with his knuckles. “Fun to be around I mean.”

Gavin guffawed. “You’re fucking corny.”

“You love it,” Nathan’s traitor mouth said.

“I—”

Nathan looked down as his phone buzzed. He had a text from Tina saying “You need to come in. We have a confession for the case.” He grinned.

“What?” Gavin asked. He leaned over to look at the phone on Nathan’s leg.

Nathan swallowed as his nose nearly brushed Gavin’s hair.

“Shit, that’s… shit!” Gavin laughed. He turned to look at Nathan’s face and blinked, suddenly realizing how close they were. For a while they just stared at each other.

Up close, Nathan thought that Gavin’s eyes were even more beautiful.

“You are…” Gavin started. “Really pretty. You know that?”

Nathan grabbed him and leaned in, kissing his lips.

Gavin froze for a second, then leaned into the kiss, grabbing onto Nathan’s sleeve to deal with the awkward angle.

Nathan broke the kiss and Gavin nuzzled his neck, planting kisses on the skin he found and sucking on Nathan’s collarbone. Nathan murmured contentedly, winding his fingers through Gavin’s hair. He reached with his free hand for Gavin’s shirt, which was rucked up a bit over his hip, and lightly brushed the skin there he could feel.

Gavin abruptly pulled away, half-knocking Nathan over. Nathan blinked, suddenly feeling bereft.

Gavin was breathing hard and stared at the wheel. His face was flushed. “Sorry,” he said, quickly. “Sorry, I…”

Reality crashed back into Nathan and he realized what he’d just done. “Oh god I’m so sorry, Gavin, I—”

“No, no, I should’ve—”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” Nathan said. “_I_ kissed _you_.”

“But I kissed you back,” Gavin said, sighing. He put his head back on the headrest. “It’s… it’s just been… a while.”

Nathan frowned. “What do you mean?”

Gavin swallowed. “Well…” He looked at Nathan. “Please don’t… tell anyone this?”

“I wouldn’t. I swear.”

Gavin sighed. “Chloe... after she lost the baby, she doesn’t uh... she’s not comfortable with... with intimacy.” Gavin’s face was somehow redder. “So we haven’t... we don’t. Just nothing. Kissing every now and then. Maybe some small touches. We tried to do more a few times - she initiated, I never... but it didn’t go anywhere.”

“Ah.” Nathan frowned. “And you never found someone else?”

“No. Never found anyone else. Wouldn’t do that to Chloe. I’m not… I know people think I’m just like Eli because we’re brothers—”

“Some couples find… solutions. There’s open marriages and that sort of thing. It’s what communication is for. I don’t think you’re anything, Gavin,” _other than that you taste better than I imagined._ “Thank you for telling me.” His brain was firing in a million different directions, and he knew that Gavin didn’t believe him fully.

“...Whatever.”

“I’m glad you’re at least happy together. It’s very clear you care deeply for each other. I’m sorry for infringing on that.”

“Ain’t your fault.”

“I’d never endanger your marriage, Gavin, believe me. If you tell Chloe, please blame me.”

“I—"

Nathan’s phone rang. He picked up, looking at Gavin apologetically. The other man shrugged.

“Stern.”

“Nathan, where are you?” Tina demanded. “You guys need to come in. _Now_.”

“Yeah, we’re on our way. Who confessed?”

There was a long moment of silence and Gavin started the car.

“Elijah Kamski.”


	5. Precious Things Can Break

Ben and Hank sat across from Elijah in the primary interrogation room at the station.

Gavin stared blankly at it all through the one-way mirror in the observation area.

Nathan kept shooting glances at him, even though he meant to focus on what was in the room. The interview had already started before they’d arrived. Nathan had taken the wheel once he told Gavin.

Gavin sat in shock the entire ride back, growing paler and paler. Tina had stopped them when they walked into the station and Gavin had looked at her like he was lost. He laughed awkwardly when she asked how he was doing. “This is a joke right? Elijah wouldn’t... he’d never...”

Tina had looked worriedly at Nathan and led them to the interrogation room. When Gavin had seen Elijah at the table being questioned, he’d completely ignored everything else. He pressed a hand to the glass. Nathan could see he was shaking.

“I’ll call Chloe,” Tina whispered to Nathan before heading out, leaving them alone.

Nathan had no idea what, if anything, he should say. If this was Connor, he’d be out of his mind, too.

Finally, Hank called a break and he and Ben stepped out, leaving Elijah in the room. The man looked down at his hands like he might find answers there.

Gavin continued to stare.

Nathan lightly touched his arm. “Gavin. We should talk to Hank and Ben.”

Gavin blinked and looked at him. “What?”

“Let’s go talk to Hank and Ben.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Gavin followed him out.

They met in the small hallway outside the interrogation room. Hank’s expression was grumpy. “I don’t think he did it.”

“What?” Nathan asked, surprised.

“He probably got a hold of one of the forensics reports, or maybe he talked someone up, I don’t know. But he’s got the way the murder happened - outside the basics - all wrong. And when we pressed him for clarification, the story changed a couple times.”

“Yeah,” Ben said. He looked tired and uncomfortable. “It sounds like either he made up the story based on what he knows, and was getting lost while asking questions, or he’s hiding something. Or both, really.”

“You think he’s covering for someone else?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah,” Hank said. “The question is who?” He looked at Gavin, who was now staring at Nathan’s shoulder blankly, his lips slightly parted. Hank looked at Nathan. “Get him some tea or something.” He lightly patted Gavin on the shoulder as he walked back to the interrogation room. Gavin blinked at the touch and looked after him, confused.

Nathan took Gavin’s elbow and led him over to the break room. He quickly made some tea while Gavin stared.

“He wouldn’t...” Gavin finally said. “He... He wouldn’t...”

Nathan smiled sadly at him.

Once they had their tea, Nathan led Gavin back to their desks and had him sit down. Gavin stared at the cup on the desk like he didn’t see it.

Tina walked up, Chloe in tow, and said, “Hey guys.”

Nathan frowned. “Tina, Chloe shouldn’t be—"

“Chloe?” Gavin said, looking up, the first sign of real emotion on his face in the form of a hopeful smile.

Chloe walked out from behind Tina and smiled at him. “Hello Gavin.”

Gavin stood up and walked over to her. He swallowed. “Aww Chlo, it’s... Everything’s a mess right now.” He looked close to tears.

Chloe kept smiling. She turned to Nathan. “I understand Elijah has confessed to the murder of Anna Chapman?”

Nathan glanced at Tina, who was watching Gavin with concern.

“That’s... you’re really not supposed to know that,” Nathan said.

“I understand. But I came to say that he didn’t do it. He’s innocent.”

Nathan looked at her. “And your evidence is...?”

She kept on that smile. “I murdered Anna Chapman. On my own.”

Nathan blinked. Tina’s head snapped back to Chloe, her eyes wide in shock.

Gavin blinked. Then blinked again. “...What?”

“I will only confess on the grounds that it is made clear that Elijah Kamski had no part in my plot. I did not ask him to lie for me or do anything on my behalf, and he was not involved in the planning or performance of the murder.”

“Chloe?” Gavin asked.

Chloe ignored him, watching Nathan.

Nathan swallowed and said, “Mrs. Reed, I need you to come with me.” He looked at Tina. “Tina, please make sure Gavin stays here for the time being.”

“Just hold on a fucking minute,” Gavin said. “What the hell is going on?”

Chloe looked at him at last and said, with a smile. “Gavin please calm yourself. This is what I want.”

“Chlo, what... What is all this?”

“The truth, Gavin. I can’t let Elijah go to prison for my crime.”

“But you didn’t... you wouldn’t...”

She smiled and followed after Nathan.

* * *

Nathan sat with Hank during Chloe’s interrogation. They had a recorder at Chloe’s request. Fowler stayed in the observation room. Gavin was strictly not allowed inside. Ben kept watch on Elijah.

“We can’t just promise not to hold Elijah accountable for, among other things, obstruction,” Hank said. “Or wave off the consequences for any part he took in the murder of Anna Chapman.”

“Elijah was not involved at all,” Chloe said.

“So what happened?” Nathan asked. He had a notepad ready and a pen he tried not to tap too much on the tabletop.

“I convinced Anna Chapman to leave her home at 10:20 PM and meet me down the street, without telling her parents or sister. I drove us to the lake, got her out of the car, strangled her with a scarf, then pushed her down the cliff.” Her expression was calm, as if she was discussing the weather.

“How did you convince her to go with you?” Nathan asked.

“I messaged her on a private messing app I told her to try one day at school. From there it was easy to gain her confidence by convincing her that I cared because I’d been part of a set all my life, and people overlooked me, too.”

“Part of a set?” Hank asked, confused.

“Triplets. Always in my sisters’ shadows. It helped us bond. I also learned that Anna wanted to be an astronomer, and offered to show her the best view of the night sky. So she agreed. It made her feel… special.”

“So why did you do it?” Hank asked.

Chloe’s smile seemed to crack ever so slightly. “I was in the teacher’s lounge at school one day, and Kara Chapman said… she said…” Chloe shook herself and smiled brighter. “She said something intolerable about the love of my life. So.”

When she didn’t elaborate, Nathan asked, “…Kara Chapman said something bad about Gavin, so you murdered her daughter?”

Chloe laughed. “_No_. Of course not. She said _garbage_ about Elijah.”

Both men blinked at her.

Nathan felt like something was falling into place, but he didn’t want to imagine it. He was glad that Gavin wasn’t in the room.

“Elijah…” Hank began, “Is the love of your life?”

“Yes. I’ve loved him since middle school. Love at first sight, really.”

“What did Kara say?” Nathan asked. He wondered if he should ask to switch with Fowler.

Chloe twitched. Swallowed. “She said…” Her smile shrank again. “She said…” She shut her eyes. “I’m not going to repeat what it was. It was despicable. And she thought it was… amusing.”

“So why not go after Kara?” Hank asked.

“I have to live with that stain on my memory. So should she.”

Nathan looked down at his notes and Hank just stared.

“What did you do with the scarf you used to murder Anna Chapman?” Hank finally asked.

“Threw it away. It went out with the trash in the morning.”

“How did you hide the mud on the car?” Nathan asked.

“I went out on a night the dirt was dry, and left the car on a paved road. We walked the rest of the way. The car didn’t need any cleaning, and we didn’t leave much in the way of footprints that couldn’t be covered with brush and rocks afterwards.”

“Do you normally leave in the middle of the night?” Hank asked. “Gavin didn’t notice you were gone?”

“I put sleeping medicine in his dinner. He was out before I left and hadn’t moved by the time I got back.”

“You… drugged your husband without his knowledge or consent?” Nathan asked.

“Yes.” She looked calm, as if she was telling them the ingredients for a pasta salad she was planning to make at a potluck.

Hank shared a look with Nathan, then asked, “Why are you confessing now?”

“I couldn’t let Elijah go to prison. This is clearly a demonstration of his love for me,” her eyes seemed to sparkle at the thought, “but still, he’s innocent.”

“He’s confessed already,” Hank said. “How do we know he didn’t just coach you to take the fall for him?”

“…Did he mention Cole Anderson?”

Hank froze.

“Why is that relevant?” Nathan asked.

Chloe smiled. “That’s how you know.”

“What do you know about Cole?” Hank demanded, his tone icy.

Fowler opened the door and said. “Hank, I think you need to switch with me.”

“Jeffrey—”

“I pretended that was a request, Hank. It actually wasn’t.”

Hank took a moment, then stood up and marched out of the room. Fowler took his chair.

Chloe kept her eyes on the captain. “I killed Cole Anderson.”

Hank went for the doorknob to the interrogation room, but Chris and Ben, who were called in by Fowler, grabbed him and held him back. Hank’s face was twisted in rage.

“You’ll find the murders are rather similar,” Chloe continued. “I’m told that’s a serial killer’s thing? Of course Elijah firmly believes that Cole’s death was an accident caused by a child playing on his own in a place he shouldn’t have been. But he didn’t. I pushed him.”

Hank struggled against Chris and Ben.

“How did you get a hold of Cole Anderson?” Fowler continued.

“I told him I’d found some abandoned puppies in the woods. But he couldn’t tell anyone, because it was a secret. He wanted to rescue them himself. Be a hero, like his father.”

Hank melted at that. There were tears in his eyes.

“And how did you get a hold of him?” Fowler asked.

“I told him the best time to see the puppies and left it in his hands, which was a bit dangerous, given how many days he had to think it over. I told him keeping it secret was an excellent idea. People would be so proud of him that way when he revealed it. Thankfully Gavin and Elijah were out of town so I could stay in the area I’d told him. I showed him to the spot and all it took was one little push.”

Hank was kneeling on the floor now, leaning his head against the wall under the window.

“But why do it?” Fowler asked.

“He saw Elijah and I together. I’d come to see Gavin at the station and stopped by Elijah’s office. We left the door slightly ajar on accident - Elijah’s door doesn’t close well most of the time - and Cole wandered by.”

“He saw you… together?” Fowler asked.

“Yes. Elijah had his head up my dress.” She cocked her head. “Would you like more detail than that, Captain Fowler?”

“No, I… no.”

Chloe chuckled.

“Elijah saw Cole?” Nathan asked.

“Oh yes. I told him and he looked. We talked to Cole, of course. Told him it was a secret. Elijah gave him a box of gobstoppers.”

“Then why kill him?” Fowler asked.

“Elijah was upset about it. He worried that Cole would let something slip.”

“So he told you to kill Cole?”

“No.”

“Did he pressure you into it?”

“No. He resigned himself to it coming out. He was going to tell Gavin and... and that couldn’t happen.”

“Why?”

“Because I wouldn’t get to see Elijah anymore.”

“What, no running off into the sunset together?” Fowler asked.

“No.” Chloe sighed wistfully. “Elijah isn’t that kind of man.”

When she didn’t elaborate, Fowler continued. “So you killed Cole because why?”

“To put Elijah’s mind at ease. He was just _so_ upset.”

“Did you tell Elijah?”

“No. He wasn’t involved or told at any point.”

“Never confronted you about it after the fact?”

“No. As I said before, he thought it was an accident.”

Fowler scratched his head. “So you murdered two kids because... because of Elijah, and you expect us to believe that he had no part in it?”

“Of course. Elijah would never do anything like that, but me? I’d do anything for Elijah. Even if he doesn’t think it’s the best idea. Sometimes he’s just... not very bright. It’s part of why it took him so long to come back to me.”

“Did Gavin know about the murders?” Fowler asked.

“Of course not,” Chloe said, smiling again. “Why would I tell him?”

Fowler pursed his lips.

“Why the escalation to strangulation?” Nathan asked. “You just _pushed_ Cole.”

“Suffering was the point,” Chloe replied. “Cole was something to be taken care of. Anna… was a message.”

They didn’t get anything else relevant out of her, and Fowler had Ben – who no longer needed to worry about holding Hank back – take her to lockup and processing.

Chris kept Hank back as they sent Chloe out of the room, and Chris took him out to the bullpen to cool off. Gavin was sitting at his desk, still staring at empty space, his tea cold and untouched, Tina talking to him.

Hank broke out of Chris’ hold and marched up to Gavin, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and yanking him out of his chair. Hank shook the other man like a rag-doll. “You fucking-all this time you were sleeping with Cole’s murderer??? You fucking worthless—!”

Chris and some other cops wrestled Gavin out of Hank’s hold and got Hank away. Gavin sagged back into his chair and stared. “What...?”

Nathan walked over and said, quietly, “Chloe confessed to Cole’s murder, too. Her story lines up well. Elijah’s likely innocent, but Chloe...”

“But why...?” Gavin asked.

Nathan glanced at Tina, who was pale, too, and said, “Apparently Chloe and Elijah were... involved.”

Gavin blinked. “Yeah they dated once, back in middle school.”

“No, Gavin. Recently. Like in the past two years. For a decent amount of time it sounds like.”

Gavin blinked. “What?”

“We’re going to question Elijah again, see if they can get anything else,” Nathan said.

“What?” Gavin said again.

Nathan really hoped they didn’t decide to question Gavin. By association at least this put Gavin under suspicion but... He wasn’t sure how much Gavin was processing at this point.

He left Gavin in Tina’s hands as they went to go question Elijah again. This time it was Nathan and Fowler. 

Elijah looked up. He’d seemingly been playing with his hands to pass the time.

“So how long have you and Chloe Reed been sleeping together?” Fowler asked.

Elijah blinked, then seemed to deflate. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I dated Chloe once back in middle school and then we broke it off.”

“Really?” Nathan asked. “Because she says you’re currently an item. And have been for a while.”

Elijah’s expression seemed to keep sinking. “It’s...” He shut his eyes. “Chloe was a mess after losing the baby. She was talking about leaving Gavin. Gavin... was in a bad place. Chloe was his everything, even then. I came over to try and help. Make sure they were eating. Took them on vacation to get away from everything. We were at the hotel and Gavin had gone out for some food. Chloe.... came onto me. I tried to play it off. Figured I don’t know, Gavin wasn’t there, maybe she just wanted to get it on with him but he wasn’t there so she made do. But she was persistent. Nothing came of it.”

He swallowed and rubbed his thumb. “Then Gavin took some sleeping pills to get to bed one night. And Chloe came over to my room. Said she just wanted to feel good or something. Said she wanted to leave Gavin, be with me. I said no. Then she said she _would _leave him... unless we...” He swallowed again. “It was once. I figured... with everything going on, people get a little messed up. I know it was dumb, I just... I don’t know.”

”Sleep with your brother’s wife while he’s grieving? Sure, makes perfect sense,” Nathan commented drily.

Elijah rubbed his eyes. “Look I’m not a saint, and I know it. But I thought maybe it would put Chloe’s mind at ease, and forestall some bad things, and then when Chloe got better we could talk about it... Anyway, things were better for a while. They went back to work. They both seemed happy. Then Chloe showed up at my office and said she’d tell Gavin about it if I didn’t do what she wanted. It... became a pattern. I wanted to just tell Gavin, get it out there. But as time passed the lie just got worse. I know it’s stupid, I should have said something...”

“Then Cole Anderson saw you together at the station,” Nathan said.

Elijah blinked and looked at him in surprise. “I... He did, yeah. But he seemed to believe us about keeping secrets. I don’t think he saw much anyway.”

“Chloe said you were afraid of him speaking out about it,” Nathan said.

“I mean I was afraid, but well... relieved, too. If the secret got out, it’d be done. Gavin would hurt, but I wouldn’t be waiting on my own cowardice to tell him. He could move on. We all could.”

“So you didn’t want to silence Cole Anderson?”

Elijah frowned. “...What? Silence...? How?”

Nathan shared a look with Fowler. “Killing off the one witness to your adultery?”

Elijah blanched. “What? No! Why? That’s... No! He died in an accident anyway.” He blinked, and then paled even further. “No he... she _didn’t_...”

“Who didn’t?”

Elijah looked at Fowler and Nathan, then shut his eyes briefly before opening them again to stare bleakly down at the table. “The only people who knew about Cole watching were Chloe and I. She... she’s here, isn’t she? She confessed.”

“She confessed to murdering Cole Anderson and Anna Chapman,” Nathan said.

Elijah shut his eyes again, pained.

Nathan leaned in. “You knew Chloe did it. That’s why you’re covering for her.”

“I didn’t know about Cole. I... I found out about Anna Chapman while looking through the tablet... a Delta600 was talking to Anna for a few weeks. It’s a screenname Chloe used to use. And her conversation with Anna, if you knew who was talking, supported it being her. I confronted her about it. Asked why she’d been talking to Anna on a private app. She _smiled_. Smiled! At me. And said it was for me. Said Kara said something dumb and had to feel bad or something...” He put his head in his hands. “I knew this would destroy Gavin. I thought...”

“You’d take the fall?” Nathan asked. “Let your brother keep living with a murderer and a serial blackmailer and rapist?”

“It was dumb but—" Elijah looked up, confused. “Wait what? Chloe’s not a rapist.”

“She blackmailed you into having sex,” Nathan said.

“Yes, but I always... I never…”

“Sex under duress, unless pre-negotiated, negates consent, Elijah.”

“But I should have gone to Gavin. Should have just _told_ him.”

“Yes,” Nathan said. “You should. Instead you were a coward, even with good intentions.” Nathan tried not to think about any emotion coloring his voice.

“Why didn’t you tell us about what you learned on the tablet?” Fowler asked, briefly glancing at Nathan.

Elijah blinked and looked at Fowler. “I couldn’t. If evidence against Chloe came out...”

“Is the evidence still on the tablet?” Fowler asked.

“...Yes. I couldn’t destroy it. I wouldn’t. That’d be evidence tampering.”

“More so than you’ve already done anyway, right?” Fowler demanded.

Elijah looked down. “...I’m sorry, sir.”

“We’ll talk about this later. Right now I have a murderer to process. But you didn’t have anything to do with Chloe’s murders?”

Elijah swallowed. “I didn’t.”

* * *

“Gavin?” Fowler asked in a strangely kind tone.

Gavin sat at his desk, staring at the blank computer screen, Tina at his side. Other cops peeked over their cube walls to look. Hank wasn’t in the station anymore. Chris stopped by as they finished questioning Elijah and said that Connor had come by to pick Hank up. Nathan hoped Connor had it all handled.

“Gavin?” Fowler said again.

Tina lightly gripped Gavin’s shoulder.

Gavin blinked and looked up. “Sir?”

“Hey,” Fowler said. “Would you come with me for a bit? Just want to ask you some questions.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Gavin stood up and Fowler put a hand on his shoulder, guiding him along.

Fowler glanced back and said, “Officer Chen, would you accompany us?”

“Sure, sir.” She walked after them, closely followed by Nathan.

Ben and Fowler sat across from Gavin in the interview room where Chloe had been questioned. Tina stood by Gavin, watching him carefully.

Nathan watched from the one-way mirror in the observation room.

“Were you aware of a continuous relationship for the last two years between your wife and brother?” Fowler asked.

Gavin blinked. “I… no. No.”

Nathan thought that Gavin looked so… small. The man was slightly shorter than him, but he was hunched over in his chair, now, making it worse.

“Did Chloe talk to you about Cole Anderson around the time of his death?” Fowler continued.

Gavin blinked. “Why…?” He frowned. “A little, maybe? I wasn’t happy I couldn’t be involved in the investigation, and I talked to her about it. Wanted to do something to help, Hank being so… but well. And Chloe seemed sad that a kid was killed… and the Andersons were family friends. They came to our… wedding.” Gavin blinked at that.

“Did you ever invite Cole to your home?” Fowler asked.

“What? No. Why would I?”

“Did Chloe ever do that?”

“No. Why would she? Maybe she hung out with Helen, but I don’t know. They were… friends?”

“Can you tell me what you did the night Anna Chapman was murdered?”

Gavin swallowed. “I... I got home late from... from finalizing paperwork for the double suicide. The Murphy’s. Chloe made some goulash. We watched a movie I think. Uh... some historical thing Chloe was into. I fell asleep. Woke up around 6 AM. Tina called me out to the scene.”

“And you didn’t wake up during the night?”

“No. For once I slept through it. Sometimes it happens I guess.” He huffed a small laugh. "Think my body was so confused about it that it decided I'd just feel a bit groggy from getting a decent amount of sleep for once."

“All right, Gavin,” Fowler said. He stood up and walked over and sat on the edge of the table. “Chloe confessed to the murder of Anna Chapman and Cole Anderson. We’re probably going to need to search your house. Make sure Chloe didn’t just hide the murder weapon or… doesn’t have any other skeletons in her closet we don’t know about.”

“...But she wouldn’t...”

“Gavin,” Fowler repeated, gently.

Gavin blinked and looked up at him. His face was sunken. “You need the house?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Knock yourself out. Key’s in…” He reached into his pocket and fumbled his keys. They fell on the floor and he stared at them.

“You can stay with me tonight Gavin, okay?” Tina said.

Gavin blinked for a while. Then finally said, “The cats.”

“We’ll pick them up.”

Gavin nodded. “Can I...? Can I see Chloe?”

Fowler looked at Tina. Then back at Gavin. “I don’t think that’s a good idea Gavin.”

“But she... Please.”

Fowler studied him for a long time before he sighed and scratched the back of his neck. “...All right. Tina, stay with him.”

Nathan wanted to follow them to the cells, but felt like he’d be intruding. He stayed back with Fowler and looked in on Elijah as they walked by the room. Elijah has his head in his hands. “So what do we do with him? Release him?”

“He interfered with a police investigation. Hid evidence. What if Chloe had killed someone else while he was futzing around? Heck maybe she did and she's just laughing it off at our incompetence right now.”

“He’s a victim, too.”

Fowler sighed. “Fucking shit this whole thing’s a goddamn mess.”

* * *

"Chloe?"

The woman in question sat in a cell on her own. The place was empty for the time being, so she had it all to herself. There was a permanent guard nearby. She nodded at Gavin and Tina.

"Chloe?" Gavin walked up to the bars and looked at her. She looked at him, her expression blank, then looked away.

"Go away, Gavin."

"Chloe, please... tell me this is just... a joke. A prank. Something."

She sighed. "I wish Elijah were here."

Gavin blinked and looked down. He was silent for a long time. Tina was prepared to tug him away when he finally asked, quietly, "Was any of it real then? Anything?"

She looked at him. "Was any of what real?"

"Us?"

She smiled. "Physically, yes. Mentally, no."

"Why not just... get a divorce? Why even bother going for me if you wanted...?"

"Elijah was ignoring me. The silly man thought he was in love with someone else at the time. I knew that if I was with you, he couldn't avoid me. And you're similar enough I could pretend I was with him."

Gavin looked at her, shocked.

"And my baby... oh, if I'd had my baby, I could have had something... He'd never be able to say no to me. Fucking human bodies, so useless... That damn miscarriage... But he came back to me anyway." She smiled. "He always comes back to me."

"Two _years_, Chloe. Why?"

"I saw him so much," Chloe replied. "So many beautiful memories. It was all worth it."

"Gavin, we should go," Tina said.

"Just say you never loved me," Gavin said. "Just fucking say it."

Chloe looked at him, her gaze distant, her expression cold. "I never loved you, Gavin. Not even a little." She snorted. "As if I could."

Gavin choked, and Tina dragged him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from “Please Don’t Say You Love Me” by Gabrielle Aplin


	6. Bigger Shoulders

“Staying at Hank’s tonight,” Connor had texted while Nathan was questioning Elijah. “Good luck today. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I think Fowler should buy stock in whatever company owns Motrin,” Chris said, looking towards Fowler’s office as he paused by Nathan’s desk. “Today’s not a good day for him.”

Nathan grimaced. “Today’s not a good day for anyone.”

Chris grimaced as well and patted him on the shoulder before walking away.

Nathan, Fowler, Ben, and some techs eventually headed over to Gavin’s house. Nathan thought it was a nice-looking condo. Pleasant, neat. Some nice pictures around the place. Good-looking furniture. The cats were gone – Tina and Gavin had come and gone before they got there, using Tina’s spare key after Gavin gave his to Fowler.

Nathan pushed all thoughts of Gavin away for the time being. He had to focus on the job.

It took hours for them to go through the place, and it was late evening by then. They hadn’t found any new evidence. There was a desktop computer they marked for future inspection. No hidden murder weapons or odd trophies. No suspicious notes or pictures in odd places. Chloe’s scarf collection – kept in her nightstand – was small, but none of them were bloody or overtly torn.

Nathan eventually headed out, leaving the rest to the techs. Fowler said, “Good work tonight, Stern. Go home. You look beat.”

Nathan wasn’t sure what good work Fowler was talking about. He hadn’t brought in either suspect. Hadn’t asked very many illusory questions during the interviews. Hadn’t found anything at the house. He’d suspected Chloe early on, but for very different reasons – simply because she was close to the victim. He certainly hadn’t imagined anything even close to reality. He supposed it helped explain some of the weirdness with Elijah, but that was something he planned to follow up on later.

While waiting for a taxi, Nathan texted Tina to ask if he could come over to see Gavin. It was probably a bad idea, but he kept seeing Gavin’s lost expression, how close he’d been to tears. His life was a wreck right now. Now that the house inspection was over with and he could go back to questioning Chloe and Elijah tomorrow, he could focus on other problems.

Tina called him.

“He’s in a really bad place right now, Nathan.”

“I know I just... I just wanted to be there if I could. To help.”

“...Grab some cut cantaloupe from the store and then come over. He loves that.”

Nathan stopped by the store to make his purchase and then directed the taxi to the address Tina texted him. When he knocked on the apartment door, Tina opened it. She wore civvies and looked harried. She ushered him in and shut the door behind him. Nathan could see it was a nice apartment. Neat. Knickknacks in nice places. Some colorful posters on the walls.

Tina guided him to the guest bedroom. Rather than being on the bed, Gavin was crouched in a corner of the room, his head in his arms, shaking.

“He’s been like that for about two hours,” Tina said. “I had to hide all the alcohol. Thankfully I don’t have much. I’m just... worried.”

Nathan walked over and crouched down by Gavin. Both of the cats were curled at his side and they looked at Nathan curiously before departing. Nathan gently reached out to lightly touch Gavin’s shoulder. The other man flinched at the contact.

“Gavin...?” Nathan asked.

Gavin flinched again and looked up out of his arms. His eyes were red and covered in tear tracks. His hair was a mess.

“Nathan...?” Gavin asked, his voice hoarse. “Why are you...?”

“I wanted to see you. I was worried. Still am.”

Gavin blinked and looked down at his knees. “I should have seen... I should have... it was so obvious.”

“She seemed pretty good at hiding her tracks.”

Gavin snorted. “I _lived_ with her. I should have… And… she _married_… she _stayed_... Why would anyone be into...?” Gavin swallowed. “Be into _me_. Should have known...”

Nathan sat fully on the floor and put an arm around the other man, pulling him close.

Gavin flinched again, then melted into him. He clung to Nathan’s shirt, burying his face in Nathan’s neck. He started crying again. He was shaking so hard Nathan was afraid he’d shake apart.

“Those kids… Those poor damn kids… Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…”

Nathan rubbed his back and just listened, not knowing what else to do.

Eventually Gavin seemed to fall asleep. Nathan picked him up - he wasn’t exactly light, but Nathan was no slouch – and carried him to the bed. Nathan set him down as gently as possible. Gavin woke up when Nathan began to pull away.

Gavin grabbed his sleeve. “Don’t go—,” then he blinked and let go. “I mean I... Thank you. You can... I understand.”

Nathan kicked his shoes off and got up on the bed with Gavin. He settled and pulled the slightly shorter man over against him, tucking his head under Nathan’s chin, rubbing circles on his back.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Nathan said.

“But you don’t have to stay, I know I’m not... I’m not...”

“I want to stay. Here, with you, for as long as you’ll have me.”

Gavin hiccuped and snuggled into him more. Nathan could feel more tears falling on his skin. He kept rubbing circles on Gavin’s back, clasping the arm Gavin held around Nathan’s chest.

Gavin fell asleep at some point, his weight against Nathan growing a bit heavier, his breathing slower. Nathan still kept rubbing circles on his back. The cats came over and settled around them. Nathan pet one settled by Gavin’s back. It was very soft. Nathan realized he had no idea what their names or genders were.

He’d ask Gavin when he woke up.

* * *

He fell asleep eventually, somehow.

When he woke up, Gavin hadn’t moved. Nathan checked his phone. They’d slept through the night. It was early morning. He grimaced. He’d have to go back to the station. He didn’t want to leave Gavin, alone, and he didn’t know how long Tina could stay.

He pulled away from Gavin and stepped out. Thankfully Gavin stayed asleep through it. Likely too tired to be aware.

Tina was in the kitchen making coffee. She waved at him. “I have to go in soon but I... I don’t want to leave him alone,” she said.

“Me neither,” Nathan said. “But I know we have a lot of processing to deal with. Follow up interviews, that kind of thing.”

“North is beside herself over this,” Tina said with an accompanying eye roll. “She can’t wait to publish it, although she’s waiting on more details first. So... maybe another hour before all hell breaks loose.” She sighed. “I think this’ll hit the school hard. Can you imagine, one of your teachers a serial killer? Parents’ll demand thorough background checks, maybe, on all the staff. Ugh.”

Nathan called in to work, updating Fowler on the situation.

“Hank’s out, too,” Fowler said. He sounded wrung out. “Figure it’s best he not be here.” Fowler sighed.

“If you give Tina a few hours off, I can come back, do some paperwork and final interviews, grab my laptop and bring it back here while she goes on patrol.”

“Are you trying to manage how I handle hours, Stern?”

“Uh… no, sir.”

“Noted. Fine. It’s a good idea. Now get your ass over here.”

Nathan explained the situation to Tina, who thought it was a good idea. Nathan peeked into the bedroom. Gavin hadn’t moved. Nathan didn’t want to wake him, but… He walked over and knelt by Gavin’s side, lightly touching his arm.

“Gavin?”

“Mmmnn…”

“Gavin, it’s Nathan.”

Gavin blinked his eyes open and smiled sleepily at him. “Nathan…”

“I have to go into the station, but I’ll be back in a couple hours, all right?”

“Okay…”

Nathan brushed his hair back, and Gavin sleepily nuzzled his hand. “You can call or text me if anything’s wrong, okay? Tina’s going to be here with you while I’m out.”

“Okay.”

Nathan leaned forward and lightly kissed Gavin’s forehead. “I promise I’ll be back soon.”

“Mmn…” Gavin shut his eyes and fell back asleep.

* * *

Nathan sat down at the interview table with Elijah, sorting out his papers. Elijah looked like he hadn’t slept at all the previous night. Nathan reasoned the jail cell probably wasn’t too comfortable.

“You’re going to be released,” Nathan said. “At least that seems to be what’s going to happen.” Fowler hadn’t exactly been open about that. Fowler seemed to think a night in jail was good for interfering with the investigation like he had, with further disciplinary action likely in mind.

“How’s Gavin doing?” Elijah asked.

Nathan looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Elijah seemed to shrink a little. He put his head in his hands.

“I wanted to tell him the other night, when we were getting dinner. But I… I was a coward, again.”

Nathan felt some personal guilt with that. He reasoned his presence had likely interfered with it. But Elijah had apparently done what he did knowing he’d been shielding a murderer. Nathan’s presence should not have been enough to stop him from speaking out. Nathan rubbed a hand over his face. “You should get some help after this. A therapist. Maybe group counseling with Gavin, if he’s willing. But I’m not an expert in any of that. I hear the Community Center here runs all that?”

Elijah smiled grimly. “Yeah, they… they do. I’ll look into it.”

Nathan organized his papers. “Do you have any more information to share about what you know about Chloe Reed’s actions in relation to Anna Chapman?”

“No. Everything was on the tablet. You all should have that already. I can testify to what I found, but I don’t know how valuable it’ll be.”

“A prosecutor can look at that,” Nathan said. “But try not to disappear before the trial. I think Fowler’s patience in all this is pretty thin.”

Elijah laughed. “Yeah.”

Nathan stood up.

“Gavin likes you,” Elijah said.

Nathan looked at him.

“I haven’t seen it much, but I can see it. He likes you. He doesn't like a ton of people, largely out of bad experiences, most before Chloe. But he likes you. Don’t… don’t damage it.”

“I don’t plan to.”

* * *

Chloe was calm and detached in her second interview. She repeated almost verbatim what she’d said the previous day, sans some superfluous details. Not once did she ask to see Gavin or Elijah, and she still refused to see a lawyer.

Nathan felt cold as he left the interview, and rubbed his arms to bring some life back into them. Chloe didn’t seem defeated. Just… determined. Like she had a goal and had set her mind to it and that was that. It was slightly creepy, given what that goal involved.

He sorted his paperwork, grabbed his computer, and caught a taxi back to Tina’s.

Tina opened the door looking harried. “Thank fuck, he’s still not eating. I offered to get takeout from wherever he wanted, cook any number of things he likes, but he just… Doesn’t respond.”

Nathan put his stuff down and followed Tina back to the bedroom. Gavin was buried under the blankets, shaking. Tina left once Nathan walked into the room.

Nathan knelt by the covers where Gavin’s head was. “Gavin?”

The covers slowly opened and Gavin looked at him. His face was a mess of tears and snot. He looked exhausted.

Nathan put a hand on his cheek and Gavin flinched. Nathan pulled back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—"

“No, it’s... It’s not you,” Gavin replied hoarsely.

“You need to eat something.”

“Why?”

“Because you haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday and Tina and I are worried about you.”

Gavin huddled back under the blankets.

“Gavin?” Nathan reached out to brush some tears away.

Gavin shut his eyes. Finally he pushed himself up, letting the covers fall. He stared down at his legs and sniffed.

Nathan reached out and brushed through the other man’s rucked up hair. “Hey. You’re doing great.”

Gavin smiled slightly and turned his legs over to the side of the bed. He slowly pushed himself up and stood there. Nathan wrapped an arm around him and steered him out of the room. Gavin plodded along. Nathan grabbed a tissue on the way out and quickly cleaned up Gavin’s face a bit. The other man was silent and stared ahead the whole while.

Tina was in uniform and standing by the door when they came out. She smiled brightly when she saw them, and walked forward to hug Gavin. He lightly hugged her back. She sniffed and finally let him go. “I’m going out to work okay? But call me if you need anything, okay?”

Gavin nodded.

Tina looked at Nathan with gratefulness in her eyes. “Also, if you need anything, everything in the fridge is available.” Then she headed out.

Nathan pulled the cantaloupe out of the fridge and asked, “Can you eat some of this for me?”

Gavin looked at it and picked up the plastic fork Nathan handed him. Nathan looked over the takeout menus Tina had left out.

“So I’m gonna order us some takeout. What do you think I should pick?”

Gavin shrugged.

“All right. Chinese it is.” He looked through he options. While he was ordering, he also watched Gavin like a hawk. Gavin just slowly ate a few bites of fruit. At least he was eating.

Gavin finally put the fork down and Nathan walked over to him, rubbing his arms.

“Hey. What’s the weather like over there?”

Gavin frowned as he looked up. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Sunny? Cloudy?”

Gavin’s expression sank. He looked away. “I don’t know. Rain. Lots of it.”

“Do hugs help?”

“…Yeah.”

Nathan pulled him closer and just held him.

Gavin slowly raised his hands to hug Nathan back. “Doesn’t this bother you?” Gavin asked.

“Doesn’t what bother me?”

“Being here so much. Dealing with me. _This_… All the touching… Not to mention the gross parts...”

“I like being around you, so no, it doesn’t bother me. And we’re friends and coworkers. It doesn’t bother me to be there when you need someone.”

Gavin was quiet for a while. Then, “You like being around me?”

“Yes. A lot.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you. You’re fun to be around. You’re interesting. You’re funny. You’re charming. You’re smart and you enjoy self-improvement, so far as I can tell. You’re good at your job. You have good patience.”

Gavin hiccuped. He was crying again. “And nothing about my ass?”

“I mean you do have a great ass, although I haven’t had much observation time.”

Gavin snorted.

“And legs. You look really sexy in old jeans.”

Gavin chuckled.

Nathan smiled. “And I like looking at you.” He pulled away slightly to cup Gavin’s cheek. “Ah, there’s that gorgeous face.”

Gavin brushed his hand off. “Pft. Stop making fun of me.”

“Well if you won’t believe me, how about I just kiss every part of you I like?”

“Ha!”

“Is that a dare?” Nathan asked. He placed kisses on Gavin’s forehead, then his cheekbones, then his eyelids.

Gavin was laughing. Nathan pulled him to the couch and they snuggled while Nathan peppered his neck with kisses. When Nathan took a breathing break, leaning on the pillows just to look at Gavin, Gavin’s smile shrank.

“I never cheated on Chloe. Except for the time in the car with you. I never… not once.”

“I know.”

“I mean it.”

“I believe you.”

“I would never do that.” Gavin swallowed. “I still… I… This doesn’t feel right.”

“Being with me? Or not being with Chloe?”

“Being with anyone else. I like… I like you. A lot. Thought you were hot from the second I saw you.” He was blushing hard.

“Ahh, so that’s why you offered me food.”

“Fuck off. That’s Tina’s fault.”

“So you say.”

Gavin played with Nathan’s collar. “I _do_ say that.”

“…I’m sorry,” Nathan said. “That all this happened.”

“Hardly your fault.”

“It’s not yours, either.”

Gavin huffed.

“It’s not your fault. You know that right?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

Nathan pushed their foreheads together. “It wasn’t your fault. I’ll say it as many times as I need to.”

“Hah,” Gavin said with a sniff. “It might be a lot of times.”

“Then I guess that’s another reason for me to stick around.”


	7. Impossible

Nathan and Tina accompanied Gavin back to his house the next day. Gavin had given the station access to the desktop, which the tech unit had taken with them. Tina helped Nathan and Gavin release the cats in the living room, hugged Gavin, squeezed Nathan’s arm, and left them alone.

Nathan and Gavin had somehow moved to the guest bed – the master was too painful for Gavin – and Gavin leaned back into Nathan as the taller man spooned him. The cats wandered in and settled around them. The room seemed too big and full of things, empty as it was. Nathan wasn't as uncomfortable as he might be in a strange place, because Gavin was there, and the cats were growing on him, but still. It felt like he was an intruder. Of course that meant he clung to Gavin more, so... Positive spins on things and all that.

“…I have to… to get a divorce attorney,” Gavin said.

“…Not today.”

“I have to file for divorce. She’s… I’ll have to…”

“We’ll get to it later,” Nathan said. If Gavin spiraled, he'd never sleep. And he needed his sleep. He slept badly enough as it was.

Gavin swallowed. “Could you… tell me about your brothers? You don’t talk about them much.”

So Nathan did. They’d talked about so much over the past few days, it seemed. Nathan’s job. What it felt like moving to Jericho. Gavin’s life, even. This was something Nathan had left alone for some reason.

He was just in the middle of telling how Cecil had once driven nine hours to keep Nathan company after a bad break-up, when he glanced down and noticed Gavin was crying. And Nathan realized, feeling very stupid, why he had avoided the topic, and why this particular story probably was a rather bad idea: Brothers. A break-up. Comfort. How about ‘how to hit all the wrong places in one go for $500’?

“…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking about this.”

“I asked.”

“Not specifically for this.”

Gavin laughed. “Well. Story of everyone’s life.”

Nathan nuzzled Gavin’s head for a second. “I know what it’s like to hate your brother. It sucks. I’m sorry.”

“You seem to like them.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re not exasperating. Cecil refuses to pick one job and stick with it, and it seems like he’s always moved somewhere else whenever I call him – and I call frequently. He's anxious all the time and there never seems to be anything I can do about it. And he always acts like I _settled_ for being a cop rather than gallivanting around the world pretending to be... I don't know. And Connor….” He frowned. “Connor's working on it. I had to come around to it, and we’re _better_. But for a while we weren’t.”

“This that thing you can’t tell me about?”

“…Yeah. I’ll talk with him. See if it’s okay.”

“It’s all right if… I understand.”

“No. I want to be honest and share things with you, and this is a big thing for me, but it’s his. So I’ll let you know.”

Gavin smiled and sniffed. “Okay.” He was quiet for a while. Then, “Do you think we’re moving too fast? With us?”

“Why? Is that how you feel?”

“I mean… a little.”

“We can slow down if you’d like.” Nathan didn’t want to. He knew he was clingy. It had turned partners off before. He was quite willing to put his wants aside, though, to make Gavin comfortable.

“No, I… Unless you want to? I’d understand.”

“I’m good.” He tightened his grip on Gavin, to hammer home the point. Not uncomfortably so, but still. They seemed to lean towards the physical anyway.

Gavin smiled a little. “Oh.”

“Yup.”

“Well… at least we talked about it, I guess.”

“I’ll mark it down on our checklist.”

“Oh yeah? What the fuck else is on there?”

“Well we haven’t officially been on any dates.”

“…True.”

“I’ve also never bought you flowers.”

“Just make sure they’re not poisonous to cats. The fuckers _will_ eat them.”

“Roger that.”

“What else?”

“I don’t know. What do _you_ want to do?”

“…You have pictures of your bike?”

* * *

The doorbell rang while Nathan and Gavin were making Au Gratin for dinner. Peeling potatoes had somehow turned lewd, but thankfully keeping the cats away from the peelings had stopping things from getting _too _out of hand. Nathan wiped his hands off and headed for the door while Gavin finished up.

Nathan opened the door to Elijah. For a minute they just stared at each other. Nathan knew Elijah had been released. Nathan still went into work. He hadn’t run into the man while they closed out the case with Chloe. But he knew Elijah hadn’t shown his face around the precinct since his release.

“…Is he home?” Elijah asked. They both knew it was unlikely that Nathan would be there if Gavin wasn’t. But in all fairness, Nathan had no idea how else Elijah would start things, other than barging in.

“Why?”

“I want to…. I want to talk to him.”

“...I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Nathan hedged.

“How about he makes that decision for himself?”

Nathan quirked an eyebrow at him. “Like you’re the one to start talking down to someone about that.”

Elijah swallowed and looked aside. “I know, okay? I just… I…”

“It’s in the oven, babe,” Gavin said as he walked over. “Who’s at the door?”

Nathan sighed and stepped back slightly so that Gavin could see.

Gavin froze.

Elijah opened his mouth and Gavin turned and walked back into the kitchen.

Nathan put his arm out to stop Elijah from coming into the house. “Wait outside for a bit.” He shut the door before Elijah could reply and walked quickly after Gavin.

Gavin was cleaning off the cutting board.

“Hey,” Nathan said, walking up to him and wrapping his arms around the shorter man. He could feel Gavin shaking.

“Why’s he here?” Gavin whispered.

“I don’t know. He was starting to tell me when you come over.”

“I… It’s my _house_.”

“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with you walking over, darling. It’s just… how it happened.”

Gavin stayed silent.

“…Do you want me to tell him to leave?”

Gavin turned and buried his face in Nathan’s shirt. They’d talked about Elijah. Or really, Gavin had spoken about him. Nathan had answered questions, worried that his guessing on what could be safe would only make things worse. Gavin had been angry, sad, resigned, all in turns and together. Nathan had explained things he'd learned from the interviews. Gavin knew most everything now. He’d _asked_ to know. Needed to know.

Nathan offered to call Elijah. Tina offered to beat Elijah up.

“With you know… pillows, or something,” she clarified. “Not you know… physical assault, I guess. Well… depending on what the bribe is.”

Gavin laughed and cried into Nathan’s shirt at night and said, “I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to do…”

“You don’t have to forgive him,” Nathan said now. “You don’t even have to see him. I can tell him to leave. We can lock the door.”

“He’ll just call my phone again.” Gavin hadn’t blocked the number. Nathan had offered to do it himself, since Gavin might let it happen if someone else did it for him. But when Nathan held the phone to do it, Gavin snatched the phone back and curled around it, eyes watering.

“He was special, you know,” Gavin whispered now. “Was always gonna do great things, people said. Always made me jealous, as a kid. So much smarter. So much better. Until he said fuck you to everyone and just went to join the police. Be a forensic analyst, at least with tech. It’s important work but it’s not like… Nobel prize for whatever, I guess. Not ending world hunger or something.” Gavin swallowed. “I respected that, too. And I hated him. I thought… He always had to do things first. Be the perfect kid. Be the perfect rebel. I couldn’t get school right. Couldn’t get teenage rebellion right. Couldn’t get dating or a job right. He just had it all.” Gavin swallowed and clutched at Nathan’s shirt. “He really had it all.”

Nathan rubbed circles on Gavin’s back.

“But he didn’t, did he?” Gavin continued. “Not… not really. Chloe saw to that.”

Nathan wanted to say, “Some part of what he did was for you,” but it felt too empty. Too much of a platitude. Whatever had gone on was in Elijah’s head, not Nathan’s. Whatever conclusions Gavin came to where his alone. Not Nathan’s to intervene on. And Nathan refused to push Gavin towards forgiveness for someone who’d hurt him so badly.

Gavin sighed. “Did he leave?”

“I told him to wait outside.”

Gavin swallowed and pushed away. “Yeah. Yeah.” He walked towards the front door and Nathan followed. Gavin opened the door. Elijah was still standing there, hugging himself. He looked at Gavin and opened his mouth.

“Get inside, then,” Gavin said, stepping back. “We made Au Gratin.”

* * *

Elijah was settled in the guest room while Nathan and Gavin settled down in the master, snuggled under the blankets, cats tucked away with them. Gavin and Elijah had talked for a long, long time, and had barely gotten anything to eat before nearly falling asleep on the countertop.

“You’re amazing,” Nathan said into the shell of Gavin’s ear.

“I _am_ amazing,” Gavin replied.

Nathan laughed.

“…Couldn’t do anything without you, though,” Gavin said. “I’d’ve lost it by now. Be a hermit or… or I dunno. And Tina and everyone. But you, I… You’re amazing.”

“Mmm… With compliments like that, you deserve a reward.” He wasn’t trying to downplay how touched he was. But sometimes he just did. It was something that happened with Connor, too. A habit of “You don’t owe me for this. I love you. I’d do it 1000 times for you without being asked. As long as you’re happy.” He'd tell Gavin at some point. Soon.

“Like what?” Gavin asked.

“Like… the motorcycle class I signed you up for. Starts this weekend.”

“…No way.”

“Yup.”

“So I could ride your bike?”

“No promises. You might flunk out. It happens.”

“Pft. Riding a bike. People don’t… I mean… But I might…?”

Nathan snuggled even closer to him. “You won’t. I didn’t mean… You won’t. And even if you do, which you won’t, I’ll be there for you. I swear. Every step of the way.”

“You promise?” Gavin’s grip on Nathan’s arms tightened.

“I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be getting a follow-on, likely a one-shot. Might add it as chapter 8 epilogue or something, but we'll see how it goes.


End file.
